■4^ : 


Social  Programmes  in  the  West 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


Agrnta 
THE  CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON  AND  EDINBUEGH 

THE  MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA 

TOKYO,  OSAKA,  KYOTO 

KARL  W.  HIERSEMANN 

LEIPZIG 

THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  COMPANY 

NEW  YOEK 


SOCIAL  PROGRAMMES 
IN  THE  WEST 

LECTURES   DELIVERED   IN  THE   FAR   EAST      ^ 

BY 

CHARLES  RICHMOND  HENDERSON,  PH.D. 

Professor  of  Sociology  in  the  Uni'versity  of  Chicago 


THE   BARROWS  LECTURES 
1912-1913 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


Published  July  igi^ 


Composed  and  molded  for  plates  by 

Macmillan  &  Co.,  Bombay,  India 

Sterotyped  and  printed  by 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago,  Illinois,  U.S.A. 


H3as 


CONTENTS 

PAOC 

Preface         --.--,__.-       vii 

Letter  of  Commission        ....-_.       viii 

Aims  of  the  International  Associations  on   Social 

Legislation --        xi 

By  Professor  E.  Fuster,  Paris 

Syllabus -       xv 

LECTURE  I 

Foundations  of  Social  Programmes  in  Economic  Facts 

and  in  Social  Ideals    -- 1 

LECTURE  II 

Public   and  Private  Relief  of   Dependents  and  Ab- 

NORMALS 30 

LECTURE  III 

Policy  of  the  Western  World   in  Relation  to  the 

Anti-Social ---        55 

LECTURE  IV 
Public  Health,  Education,  and  Morality      -      -      -        80 

LECTURE  V 

Movements  to  improve  the  Economic  and  Cultural 

Situation  of  Wage-Earners 125 

LECTURE  VI 
Providing  for  Progress      -,-----      156 


■._a_'*.^'''.K:  v..  <ii3 


PREFACE 

My  University,  through  our  honored  President 
H.  P.  Judson,  has  opened  the  way  for  me  to  visit  the 
Orient  and  deliver  my  life-message  there  on  the  foundation 
of  the  Barrows  Lectureship.  The  limits  of  time  and  space 
precluded  detailed  discussion  of  the  vast  themes  which 
are  opened  up  in  the  lectures  here  presented.  But  the 
necessity  of  selecting  elements  from  the  social  activities 
of  Europe  and  America  which  might  have  value  in  the 
Orient  under  widely  different  conditions,  compelled  a 
consideration  of  the  materials  from  a  new  point  of  view. 
Instinctively  the  mind  sifts  the  ideas  which  must  be 
transported  across  the  ocean,  and  gives  to  them  a  different 
form  and  dress. 

While  in  attendance  at  the  memorable  "social  week" 
at  Zurich  in  September,  1912,  my  colleagues  in  the  three 
great  international  associations  for  labor  legislation,  added 
to  the  responsibilities  of  my  journey  in  the  Orient,  by 
asking  me  to  present  their  aims  wherever  it  was  possible 
in  India,  China,  and  Japan.  For  this  mark  of  their  confidence 
I  am  truly  grateful,  and  I  have  done  what  I  could  to  carry 
out  their  wishes  as  expressed  in  the  official  letter  herewith 
printed  and  signed  by  men  made  famous  throughout  the 
world  for  their  high  merit  as  servants  of  humanity  and 
social  science. 

While  my  grateful  appreciation  of  courtesies  and 
friendly  service  shown  me  by  numerous  kind  persons 
cannot  be  expressed  in  words,  I  wish  here  to  record  my 
sincere  thanks  for  the  many  helpful  deeds  which  have 
made  my  journey  fruitful  and  instructive  to  me. 

Owing  to  the  conditions  of  printing,  proof-reading 
by  the  author  was  impossible ;  I  am  grateful  to  the  publishers 
for  their  attention  to  the  corrections. 

Charles  Richmond  Henderson. 
Bombay,  Nov.  1912. 


LETTER  OF  COMMISSION 


Zurich,  September  11, 1912. 

Dear  Mr.  Henderson, 

The  International  Associations  for  the  Legal  Protection 
of  Workmen,  for  the  Combat  with  Unemployment,  and  for  Social 
Insurance,  have  learned  with  intense  pleasure  that  you  are  about 
to  travel  in  the  Extreme  Orient,  and  particularly  in  China,  fapan, 
and  India,  to  speak  on  social  questions,  with  special  reference 
to  the  aims  pursued  by  the  international  associations  which  deal 
with  the  labor  problem. 

Our  associations,  which  have  not  yet  been  able  to  come 
into  contact  very  closely  with  the  countries  you  are  about  to  visit 
and  to  establish  sections  there,  feel  keenly  the  need  of  a 
movement  in  this  matter,  and  they  will  be  grateful  to  you  for 
any  assistance  you  can  render  in  this  task.  The  study  of 
problems  of  emigration  makes  this  effort  indispensable. 

In  working  for  the  establishment  of  sections  in  those 
countries  which  have  so  great  interest,  you  will  at  the  same 
time  render  a  service  to  all  our  three  associations.  We  should 
be  very  grateful  to  all  those  who  take  an  interest  in  one  or  all 
of  our  associations,  or  in  the  work  which  we  represent  in  Europe, 
and  who  support  your  effort  in  any  way  possible. 

Our  three  associations  wish  for  your  large  success. 

Accept,  dear  Sir,  the  assurance  of  our  great  respect 


LETTER  OF  COMMISSION  ix 

In  the  name  of  the  International  Association  for  the  Legal 
Protection  of  Working-Men,  of  the  Permanent  Committee 
of  Social  Insurance,  and  of  the  International  Association 
for  the  Combat  with  Unemployment: 

The  General  Secretaries:  The  Vice-Presidents : 

ST.  BAUER  (Bdle)  ADRIEN  LACHANAL  (Geneva) 

Legal  Protection  Legal  Protection 

ED.  FUSTER  (Paris)  G.  VON  MAYR  (Munich) 

Social  Insurance  Social  Insurance 

MAX  LAZARD  (Paris)  MARQUIS  FERRERO  DE  CAM- 

Unemployment  BIANO  (Turin).    Social  Insurance 

LOUIS  VARLEZ  (Ghent)       RICH.  FREUND  (Berlin) 
Unemployment  Unemployment 

The  Presidents: 

R.  POINCARE 
Insurance 

LEON  BOURGEOIS 

Unemployment 

HENRY  SCHERRER 
Legal  Protection. 


To   Mr.  CH.  HENDERSON,    Vice-President  of  the  International 
Committee  on  Social  Insurance,  Professor  at  the  University  of  Chicago. 


AIMS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  ASSOCIATIONS 
ON  SOCIAL  LEGISLATION 

Statement  of  Professor  E.  Fuster,  Paris. 

You  cannot  conceal  from  yourselves  the  unhappy  fact 
that  where  there  is  rapid  economic  progress  there  is  also, 
unless  great  care  is  taken,  an  increase  of  human  suffering; 
the  exaltation  of  certain  forces  works  to  the  detriment  of 
the  feeble;  there  is  a  disturbance  of  the  equilibrium  of 
the  social  body;  but  no  country  can  escape  the  tendency. 

The  problems  which  cannot  be  avoided  are:  an 

increasing  number  of  persons  unemployed,  inadequate 
adaptation  of  forces  to  the  demand,  and  subjection  of  the 
weak  to  rough  labor,  excessive  duration  of  toil,  unwhole- 
some arrangements  in  the  workplace,  absence  of  devices 
for  the  prevention  of  accidents  and  poisoning,  want  of 
protection  of  income  for  the  workman  and  his  family  in 
times  when  sickness,  accident,  and  old  age  deprive  him 
of  his  ability  to  earn  wages. 

It  is  generally  the  waste  of  human  life  resulting  from 
accident,  and  the  exploitation  of  women  and  children  em- 
ployed in  factories,  which  seem  to  appeal  most  to  public 
sentiment  and  which  torment  the  conscience  of  men  of 
political  influence.  But  it  would  be  wrong  to  act,  as  has 
been  the  case  in  some  countries,  as  if  with  two  or  three 
reforms  the  work  has  been  achieved;  all  the  problems 
arise  and  a  country  must  pass  through  the  entire  series, 
soon  or  late.  For,  the  labor  problem  is  in  reality  only  the 
expression  of  the  most  profound  and  universal  needs  of 
humanity,  and  is  the  same  in  all  lands, — the  laborer  in 
the  world  without  resources. 

To  have  employment  in  a  trade  one  has  learned,  thanks 
to  fit  means  of  knowing  the  places  where  labor  is  wanted; 
to  make  sure  that  this  work  is  the  normal  play  of  energy 


Xii  BARROWS  LECTURES 

and  not  exhaustion;  that  it  is  done  under  safe  and  whole- 
some conditions;  that  growing  children  and  the  mothers 
of  future  generations  are  not  used  up;  to  be  assured  that 
when  in  spite  of  all  precautions  the  producer  is  exhausted, 
a  compensation  shall  be  provided  for  himself  and  his 
survivors,  —  this  is  the  object. 

The  social  history  of  the  last  twenty-five  years  reveals 
some  noble  efforts  of  certain  nations  to  respond  by  law, 
by  regulations,  by  the  action  of  local  authorities,  by  unions 
of  workers  to  this  threefold  and  universal  need.  One  after 
another  the  nations  have  come  to  comprehend  the  value 
of  a  policy  which  v/ithout  discouraging  economic  initiative, 
and  even  in  its  interest,  conserves  the  health  and  productive 
energies  of  the  people. 

You  know  through  how  many  difficulties  and  by 
what  experiments  these  nations  have  opened  the  road  of 
reform.  It  is  the  privilege  of  countries  which  to-day  enter 
this  policy,  and  whom  we  solicit  to  enter  freely  without 
neglecting  any  element  of  the  problem,  to  profit  by  the 
inspiring  experiments  already  made. 

It  is  here  that  our  three  associations  proffer  their 
assistance.  They  arose  separately,  at  different  times,  but 
each  from  the  need  felt  everywhere  for  information  and 
international  discussion. 

They  respond  to  the  three  great  needs  which  we  have 
described  and  cover  the  whole  field  of  the  precarious 
condition  of  workers. 

In  1889,  the  first  international  congress  on  accidents 
of  labor  gave  birth  to  a  permanent  international  committee 
which  became  an  international  association  under  the  name 
of  the  Permanent  International  Committee  on  Social  In- 
surance and  which  is  devoted  to  the  diffusion  of  knowledge 
of  legal  and  voluntary  experiments  in  the  matter  of  in- 
surance against  sickness,  invalidism,  accident,  old  age,  and 
premature  death. 


AIMS  OF  THE  ASSOCIATIONS  ON  SOCIAL  LEGISLATION  xiii 

In  the  following  year,  1890,  the  International  Confer- 
ence for  the  Protection  of  Labor  convened  at  Berlin,  may 
be  considered  as  the  point  of  departure  for  the  efforts 
which  resulted  in  the  creation  of  the  International  Associ- 
ation for  the  Legal  Protection  of  Labor,  an  association 
which,  supported  by  the  official  bureau  of  labor  founded 
by  a  considerable  number  of  governments  at  Basel,  has 
succeeded  in  introducing  into  various  legislations  fruitful 
measures  for  protection  against  abuses  of  working  men 
and  women. 

Finally,  and  more  recently,  the  need  having  been  felt 
of  devoting  a  new  organization  to  the  study  of  the  problems 
of  unemployment,  the  International  Association  on  Un- 
employment now  works  side  by  side  with  the  others. 

The  executive  committees  of  these  three  associations, 
united  in  the  conviction  that  they  have  a  common  object, 
and  that,  if  a  nation  does  effective  service  for  the  protection 
of  laborers  and  national  conservation,  it  must  include  citi- 
zens informed  in  respect  to  all  aspects  of  the  problem,  have 
agreed  to  make  appeal  to  persons  interested  in  public 
good  in  countries  where  the  protection  of  workmen  has 
hardly  begun  and  where  public  opinion  has  not  yet  made 
a  satisfactory  response  to  our  individual  efforts. 

Therefore,  they  now  address  you  to  place  at  your 
disposition  the  united  forces  of  the  three  international 
groups,  and  their  information  and  publications. 

They  ask  you  to  create  an  agitation,  in  respect  to 
some  form  of  organization  adapted  to  your  country. 

Note. — Requests  for  further  information  about  any  one  or  aH  of  these 
associations,  the  cost  of  publications,  and  the  conditions 
of  membership,  may  be  sent  to  Mr.  LouiS  Varlez,  Coupure, 
Ghent,  Belgium. 


SYLLABUS 


LECTURE  I 

FOUNDATIONS  OF  SOCIAL  PROGRAMMES  IN  ECONOMIC 
FACTS  AND  IN  SOCIAL  IDEALS 

The  generous  and  friendly  reception  accorded  my  prede- 
cessors in  this  Lectureship  assures  me  of  a  welcome  and  a 
sympathetic  hearing.  The  subject  is  of  world-wide  interest, 
because  of  the  common  elements  and  needs  of  human  nature 
and  the  industrial  transformation  of  the  East. 

Not  as  an  advocate  of  a  policy  for  the  East,  but  as  an 
interpreter  of  the  struggles  of  men  of  the  West,  the  lecturer 
seeks  to  disclose  the  growing  human  purpose  of  Christian 
people  as  manifested  in  movements  and  institutions.  'The 
promotion  of  the  highest  interests  of  humanity'  was  one  of 
the  purposes  of  Mrs.  Haskell  in  founding  the  Lectureship,  and 
one  of  these  highest  interests  is  the  blessing  brought  by 
Christianity  to  the  world.  With  Christianity  all  kinds  of  good 
flow  to  all  the  continents. 

I 

The  economic  evolution  of  the  modern  world  defines  the 
forms  and  sets  some  of  the  problems  of  social  programmes. 

1.  Characteristics  of  the  mediaeval  in  contrast  with  the 
modern  economic  organization  of  society  in  Europe.  In  the  older 
industrial  order  we  find  the  isolated,  self-sufficing  village 
community,  rudimentary  division  of  labor,  meagre  capital, 
small  craftsmen,  local  market,  inadequatetransportation,  operatives 
servile  or  semi-servile.  Modern  industry  reveals  interdependence 
of  industries,  large  scale  of  production,  aggregation  of  capital, 
expert  management,  creation  of  a  wage-earning  class,  legally 
free,  but  economically  dependent.  India,  China,  and  Japan 
are  passing  from  the  former  condition  to  the  latter  (Sir 
Theodore  Morison,  k.  c.  i.  e..  The  Economic  Transition  in  India). 
This  progress  in  the  West  has  cost  much  suffering,  waste,  and 


XVI  BARROWS  LECTURES 

loss;  India  may  avoid  our  mistakes,  secure  the  advantages  of 
the  great  industry  and  'not  lose  the  lofty  idealism  by  which 
she  has  hitherto  been  so  nobly  distinguished'.  The  Western 
peoples  groped  their  way  for  centuries  without  the  aid  of 
modern  science  and  medical  art;  the  Orient  can  have  this 
as  a  free  gift. 

2.  India  is  not  stagnant,  is  capable  of  development.  Reason- 
ing from  European  history,  we  learn  that  ideas  are  permanent 
forces  and  outlast  conquests;  a  great  race  is  not  annihilated; 
metaphysical  meditation  needs  to  be  enriched  and  made  sane 
by  scientific  method  and  practical  effort;  the  nations  of  the 
East  have  already  shown  capacity  for  mastering  the  new 
organization;  science  is  not  patented  nor  monopolized,  and 
has  no  frontiers. 

II 

SOCIAL  FAITH  IN  THE  SOCIAL  POLICY  OF  THE  OCCIDENT 

Social  faith  is  the  inspiring  principle  of  the  programmes. 
It  is  a  religious  conviction  that  the  universe  has  a  meaning 
and  that  meaning  is  good,  which  moves  the  people.  Charity  is 
the  life  of  religion,  certainly  of  Christianity.  It  is  morality  exalt- 
ed, religion  with  ethical  direction  which  gives  a  soul  to  the 
campaign  for  welfare.  Out  of  the  heart  are  the  issues  of  life, 
and  the  issue  itself  is  helpful  action.  By  works  faith  becomes 
visible,  luminous;  the  test  of  Christian  discipleship  is  treatment 
of  the  hungry,  the  sick,  the  blind,  the  criminal.  New  knowledge 
increases  responsibility.  Ways  once  tolerable  are  now  sinful. 
The  scientific  method  is  to  find  facts,  and  proceed  by  a  sensible 
way  to  solve  problems. 

Ill 

PURPOSE  AND  SCOPE  OF  THESE  LECTURES 

1.    Not  to  interfere  with   the  native  development  of  a 
strange  people;  each  nation  must  grow  from  within. 

2.  A  description  of  the  aims  and  methods  of  Western 
policies  may  be  suggestive  and  helpful. 

3.  Principles  of  organization  and  conduct  are  based  on 
universal  factors  of  human  nature. 


SYLLABUS  xvll 


4.  In  fellowship  of  discussion  we  all  rise  to  broader 
views  and  deepen  our  charity. 

5.  We  are  to  consider  those  who  are  dependent  upon 
public  or  private  charity  for  relief  or  support,  the  members 
of  anti-social  groups,  the  wage-earners,  and  the  unskilled  toilers 
on  the  land,  and  finally,  the  function  and  mission  of  exceptional 
men  as  starting  points  of  a  new  advance  of  the  race. 

6.  The  elements  of  a  social  policy  must  include  a  con- 
sideration of  public  health,  the  means  of  increasing  industrial 
efficiency,  and  spiritual  satisfactions  in  science,  art,  morality, 
and  religion.  'Social  welfare'  means  infinitely  more  than 
material  comfort.  War,  misery,  deep  poverty,  hateful  revolution, 
partisanship,  sedition,  class  hatred,  are  hindrances. 

7.  The  interest  of  all  humanity  is  the  ground  of  a  social 
policy,  not  the  interest  of  a  class,  a  sect,  a  party.  Human  life 
is  precious.  Our  relations  are  vital.  The  truly  great  nation 
'lifts  up  the  manhood  of  the  poor'. 

The  Western  World  has  not  realized  its  ideals  and  never 
will  realize  them,  for  the  nobler  a  life  the  more  rapidly  aims 
expand.  We  have  committed  great  mistakes  and  wrongs. 
Yet  our  purpose  is  more  elevated,  our  action  is  better  directed, 
our  labors  are  more  aggressive  and  effective  than  ever  before. 
We  have  achieved  results  once  thought  impossible,  and  our 
victories  give  heart  to  good  men  the  world  over. 


LECTURE    II 


PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE  RELIEF  OF  DEPENDENTS  AND 
ABNORMALS 

Social  policies  have  their  roots  in  charity.  Misery  tests 
our  economic,  legal,  and  moral  systems.  Some  have  proposed 
to  permit  the  incapable  to  perish.  Our  morality  and  religion 
forbid  this  course.  Life  and  personality  are  sacred;  our  beliefs 
require  us  to  show  mercy  to  the  unfit  and  kindness  to  animals. 
I.  Subnormal  and  dependent  members  of  society  have 
always  existed:  feeble-minded,  insane,  senile,  crippled,  ignorant. 


XvHi  BARROWS  LECTURES 

II.  Sympathy  is  organic;  product  of  evolution;  enlarged 
and  purified  by  Christianity.  Charitable  relief  in  Christendom 
has  passed  through  various  stages:  1.  in  the  primitive 
Churches  it  was  voluntary  and  congregational;  2.  in  the 
mediaeval  times  it  was  ecclesiastical  with  state  patronage, 
administered  by  bishops,  priests,  orders,  hospitals;  3.  since 
the  Reformation  the  duty  of  relief  has  come  to  be  regarded 
as  national,  with  private  charity  as  supplementary — to  help  in 
special  cases,  to  try  experiments,  to  criticize  public  relief,  to 
save  from  'pauper'  record.  England  had  the  ftrst  poor  law 
under  Queen  Elizabeth. 

III.  Relief  of  needy  families  in  their  homes,  to  prevent  the 
disruption  of  family  bonds.  Families  are  responsible  for  each 
member,  so  far  as  able. 

The  poor  help  each  other,  but  require  community-aid  in 
certain  situations:  1.  sickness  of  bread-winner;  2.  moral 
delinquency  and  neglect  of  parents;  3.  death  of  parents; 
4.  enforced  unemployment. 

Danger  of  pauperization  to  be  averted,  by  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  family,  by  discipline  of  delinquents,  by 
adequate  relief,  by  refusal  to  aid  those  who  refuse  work  they 
can  do.  Co-operation  of  relief  agencies:  1.  by  central 
registration;  2.  agreement  among  agencies  in  legal  control, 
where  necessary ;  3.  selection  of  proper  fund ;  4.  understanding 
about  refusal  of  relief. 

CHARITY- ORGANIZATION  SOCIETY  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN  AND  AMERICA 

It  aims  to  secure  co-operation:  1.  a  voluntary  association; 
2.  local  offices  to  discover  the  destitute;  3.  prompt  relief 
of  urgent  distress ;  4.  investigation  of  conditions ;  5.  system 
of  records;  6.  information  about  institutions  of  relief; 
7.  study  of  causes  of  misery;  8.  policy  of  prevention; 
9.  education  of  the  public  and  securing  legislation. 

The  'Elberfeld  System',  German  municipal  organization 
of  relief:  1.  expert  director;  2.  convenient  districts,  with 
unpaid  visitors  uniting  in  committees;  3.  central  records; 
4.  general  ordinances  to  secure  uniformity.  Advantages  of 
this  system  are:     1.  a  corps  of  intelligent   citizens  study  the 


SYLLABUS  XIX 


needs  of  the  poor;  2.  adequate  funds  and  personal  attention 
of  many  visitors. 

IV.  Institutional  relief,  for  those  who  have  no  homes. 
The  hospice  or  hospital  was,  in  the  middle  ages,  of  a 
general  character;  modern  institutions  are  highly  specialized. 

1.  Children  are  separated  from  adults  and  placed  in  families; 

2.  old  people  in  special  establishments;  3.  medical  charity, 
hospitals,  dispensaries,  nursing;  4.  educational  charity;  5.  ab- 
normals  —  insane,  epileptics,  feeble-minded  —  with  appropriate 
medical,  industrial,  and  educational  treatment;  6.  the  blind, 
deaf,  and  crippled,  to  be  trained  to  self-support. 

V.  Relief  in  times  of  public  calamity. 

Immunity  from  famines  and  pestilence  due  to:  1.  favorable 
climate;  2.  irrigation,  where  needed;  3.  effective  trans- 
portation systems;  4.  insurance;  5.  public  subscriptions  and 
grants  in  emergencies.     The  Red  Cross  Society. 

VI.  Policy  of  prevention  of  misery. 

The  tendency  of  relief  is  to  increase  the  number  of  weaklings 
and  so  of  the  miserable;  hence,  to  avoid  defeat,  charity  must 
become  scientific  and  preventive. 

A  preventive  policy  must  include:  1.  eugenic  action  and 
selection  by  segregation  and  gradual  elimination  of  the 
incapable;  2.  education;  3.  control  and  discipline  of  difficult 
citizens;  4.  reduction  of  the  conditions  which  produce 
sickness;  5.  social  legislation  on  behalf  of  the  wage-earning 
groups. 

The  eugenic  action  required  is  already  demonstrated  in 
celibate  colonies  of  the  feeble-minded,  epileptic,  and  insane. 


LECTURE    III 

POLICY  OF  THE  WESTERN  WORLD  IN  RELATION  TO  THE 
ANTI-SOCIAL 

The  West  has  achieved  wonderful  success  in  the  conquest 
of  nature,  the  extension  of  science,  the  abolition  of  slavery, 
the  development  of  art  and  philosophy,   the   limitation   and 


XX  BARROWS  LECTURES 

prevention  of  disease  and  famine;  for  coming  generations  it 
remains  to  abolish  war,  misery,  vice,  and  crime. 

Macaulay's  great  codes  make   the   principles  of  our  law 
familiar  in  the  East;  but  our  discussion  touches  the  deeper 
foundations  of  social  treatment  of  offenders. 
I.    The  anti-social  persons. 

Even  public  enemies  are  human,  citizens,  brothers. 
II.    Extent  of  crime. 

1.  Professional  criminals,  dangerous,  but  few. 

2.  A   multitude   of   minor    offenders.      City    life    has 

complicated  regulations;  contravention  of  these  not 
criminal;  hence,  statistics  misleading. 

3.  JVlany  real  crimes  concealed. 

4.  In  any  calculation  crime  is  appalling  and  demands 

serious  effort  to  repress  and  prevent.     Civilization 
multiplies  temptation,  both  downward  and  upward. 

III.  Kinds  of  criminals  and  offender  j. 

No  organized  tribes  or  hr    xs  of  robbers. 

1.  The  irresponsible  offender  .  insane. 

2.  Border-land  cases. 

3.  Defective  delinquents. 

4.  Young  offenders,  educable,  in  moral  peril. 

5.  Habitual  criminals:  {a)  weaklings,  probably  defective; 

(b)  trained,  dangerous,  professional  criminals. 

IV.  The  social    purpose   in    the   treatment   of   offenders; 

various  aspects. 

1.  The  protection  of  great  social  interests:  order,  security 
of  life  and  property,  peace,  health,  reputation,  morality.  Pain 
is  a  warning,  a  deterrent.     'General  prevention'. 

2.  Doubtful,  though  often  defended,  is  the  purpose  of 
retribution;  more  and  more  rejected  as  civilization  becomes 
more  clear  in  its  vision  and  self-control. 

3.  Reformation  of  the  offender;  restoration  of  the  erring 
to  his  normal  place  in  social  relations,  so  far  as  possible. 

V.    Measures  available  to  attain  these  ends. 

1.  The  fine:  deprivation  of  property. 

2.  Imprisonment. 

3.  Death  penalty:  gradually  disappearing. 


SYLLABUS  xxi 


4.  Probation  of  offenders,  without  incarceration,  and 
parole  of  convicts  after  a  period  of  deprivation  of 
liberty. 

VI.   Juvenile  Courts. 

Formerly  children,  from  the  twelfth  year,  were  legally 
regarded  and  treated  as  criminals;  this  led  to  dangerous  leniency 
or  to  association  with  depraved  adults.  Gradually  the 
educational  purpose  was  adopted  and  in  1899,  Illinois  adopted 
the  juvenile  court  law,  since  then  accepted  in  other  states  and 
in  Europe.     First  International  Conference  in  Paris  in  1911. 

Essential  features   of   the   juvenile   court:      1.  a    separate 
court  room,  free  from  criminal  suggestions,  with  a  detention 
home;     2.  a  suitable  judge;     3.  probation  officers,  agents  of 
the  court;     4.  a  psychologist  to  study  the  children. 
VII.    A  policy  of  prevention. 

Cure  comes  too  late;  prevention  is  more  effective  and 
economical. 

Crime  is  prevented  by  the  exercise  of  universal  justice. 
Incitements  to  vice  and  crime  may  be  removed  by  public 
authority,  supported  by  public  opinion.  The  normal  satisfaction 
of  natural  desires  diminishes  temptation;  for  example,  by  social 
settlements.  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  municipal 
recreations,  the  action  of  Churches,  inspired  by  John  Howard, 
Elizabeth  Fry,  E.  C.  Wines,  and  others.  Miss  Jane  Addams,  ll.  d., 
reveals  the  work  of  religion :  '  The  method  of  Jesus  was.  .  .  . 
the  overcoming  of  the  basest  evil  by  the  august  power  of 
goodness, ....  the  breaking  up  of  long  entrenched  evil  by 
the  concerted  good-will  of  society'. 

Bibliography  on  the  social  treatment  of  crime. 

F.  H.  Wines,  Punishment  and  Reformation,  second  edition, 
1910. 

C.  R.  Henderson,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Dependent, 
Defective,  and  Delinquent  Classes  (D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.,  Boston, 
1904)  contains  a  list  of  books  and  articles. 

C.  R.  Henderson  (editor).  Prevention  and  Correction,  5  vols. 

Charities  Publication  Committee,  New  York  City. 

W.  D.  Morison,  Juvenile  Offenders. 


xxii  BARROWS  LECTURES 

LECTURE   IV 

PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALS 
SECTION  I.     HEALTH,  INTEREST,  AND  SOCIAL  DUTY 

Ethical  justification  of  a  social  policy  relating  to  health. 
In  personality  physical  conditions  are  causal  factors:  as  in 
injury  to  the  brain,  drugs,  feeble-mindedness,  illness. 

The  Western  World  assumes  that  care  of  health  is  a  duty:  the 
value  of  all  human  life,  not  that  of  the  rich  alone.  Pessimism 
regarded  as  an  oddity  or  a  disease.  The  race  which  believes 
will  become  strong;  doubt  tends  to  neglect  and  death  of  a 
people. 

The  value  of  vigorous  vitality:  in  family,  in  industry,  in 
business,  in  religion.  Jesus  was  a  minister  of  health.  The 
Christian  idea  of  the  body  as  a  temple.  The  medical  profession 
in  India  an  honor  to  the  world;  representing  the  fraternity  of 
science. 

A  few  topics  selected  to  illustrate  the  world  movement. 
The  hook-worm  disease,  one  of  the  international  problems. 
Public  hygiene  a  sacred  international  duty.  The  bubonic 
plague,  the  concern  of  all. 

I.  The  infant  welfare  movement 

Complex  of  motives — pecuniary  and  altruistic.  Infanticide 
of  the  ancient  world;  effort  of  the  primitive  Christian  Church. 

Factors  in  a  practical  programme.  1.  Removal  of  unwhole- 
some conditions  in  dwellings,  milk-supply,  venereal  disease, 
alcoholism.  2.  Protection  of  mothers  by  factory  laws;  insurance, 
training  of  midwives  and  physicians,  care  of  household;  maternity 
hospitals.  3.  Care  of  infants  outside  institutions:  legal  super- 
vision, medical  inspection,  instruction  of  ignorant  mothers, 
feeding,  pure  milk.  4.  Supplementary  institutions :  day  nurseries, 
infant  hospitals,  asylums,  placing  out.  5.  Professional  education. 
6.  Propaganda. 

SUCCESS  OF  THIS  PROGRAMME 

II.  Dwellings.  Problem  of  housing  arises  with  the  growth 
of  industrial  towns.     1.  Duty  to  protect  tenants.     2.  Measures: 


SYLLABUS  XXiii 


tfie  city  plan;  standards  of  structure  and  condition;  inspection; 
condemnation  of  unfit  houses:  cheap  and  rapid  transportation; 
suburban  towns;  co-operation  in  ownership;  municipal  schemes. 

III.  School  hygiene.  Gratuitous  and  compulsory  attendance 
has  dangers  to  be  prevented  by  a  policy  covering  construction 
of  school  houses,  inspection  of  children,  medical  control  and 
care,  feeding  of  the  hungry,  special  classes  for  defectives. 

IV.  Urban  hygiene.  1.  Water-supply.  2.  Sewage  disposal. 
3.  Prevention  of  communicable  diseases  by  care  of  food  and 
drink,  air,  insects,  inspection,  isolation,  diagnosis,  disinfection, 
education  of  the  people. 

V.  Industrial  hygiene.  Public  regulations  of  workshops  and 
mines.  Prevention  of  accidents  and  of  occupational  diseases. 
Codes  of  rules.  Examination  of  workmen.  Hospital  care. 
Inspectors.     Instruction  of  wage-earners  in  modes  of  protection. 

VI.  Rural  hygiene.  This  branch  of  public  medicine  not 
so  progressive.     Great  need  of  education,  laws,  administration. 

VII.  The  steps  and  direction  of  progress.  From  the  demoniac 
theory  to  prayer  and  sacrifice;  the  filth  theory  of  explanation; 
bacteriology;  epidemiology,  the  latest,  watching  people  rather 
than  things. 

Victories  of  preventive  medicine;  over  rabies,  diphtheria, 
cholera,  small-pox,  tuberculosis.  Results  of  scientific  phil- 
anthropy confirm  social  faith.  Contrast  with  middle  ages  in 
Europe — charitable  but  hopeless.  Easier  now  to  believe  in  a 
good  God. 

SECTION  II.      POPULAR  EDUCATION  AND  MORALITY 

Physical  health  is  essential  to  existence;  education  and 
morality  are  necessary  to  higher  life.  1.  The  ends  of  education 
are  the  ends  of  human  life  itself:  physical  soundness  and 
efficiency,  mental  power,  worthy  character.  2.  Education  has 
three  methods :  control  (coercion),  instruction  (information),  and 
character-building  (nurture).  Social  reform  and  amelioration 
are  promoted  only  by  education,  in  the  widest,  highest  sense — 
not  mere  acquisition  of  knowledge.  All  Western  peoples  have 
become  convinced  of   the    necessity    of   universal    education. 


xxiv  BARROWS  LECTURES 

Free  institutions  cannot  be  built  on  the  quicksand  of  ignorance, 
untruth,  and  selfishness.  Money  spent  on  schools  is  not  an 
expense,  but  an  investment. 

The  chief  social  agencies  of  education :  1.  The  Home,  under 
the  guidance  of  refined  and  religious  mothers.  The  Family  is 
the  primary  school  of  character  and  spirituality,  and  intelligent 
women  there  reign  and  teach.  2.  Elementary  schools, 
practically  gratuitous,  tending  to  be  obligatory,  as  rapidly 
as  income  will  permit,  and  trained  teachers  are  available. 
3.  Secondary  and  higher  education,  either  gratuitous  or 
otherwise,  accessible  to  the  poor;  colleges  and  Universities 
supported  by  endowments  and  by  state  subsidies  and  grants; 
This  system  the  product  of  over  300  years  of  effort  and 
sacrifice.  Influence  of  the  Reformation  and  the  Renaissance; 
Luther,  Louis  Vives,  Erasmus.  4.  The  Churches,  no  longer 
wasting  energy  and  money  on  controversies,  co-operate  for  the 
religious  and  moral  education  of  children  and  youth.  The 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  as  splendid  and  sensible  auxili- 
aries. Numerous  schools  for  special  classes.  In  some  lands 
religion  is  taught  in  state  schools;  everywhere  a  high  morality. 
Even  in  central  public  schools  literature,  biography,  history, 
music  and  noble  teachers  keep  religion  and  goodness  in  mind. 
5.  Newspapers  are  cheap;  Free  Libraries  extending  everywhere; 
almost  all  can  read  and  write;  women  share  in  discussion  of 
all  subjects  of  large  interest.  Vast  sums  given  by  rich  men  to 
supplement  public  funds.  Duty  of  parents  to  protect,  maintain, 
and  educate,  recognized  in  fundamental  morality  and  law. 


LECTURE    V 


MOVEMENTS     TO    IMPROVE  THE  ECONOMIC  AND  CULTURAL 
SITUATION  OF  WAGE-EARNERS 

Rise  of  the  'industrial  group'  from  ancient  slavery,  serfdom 
and  customary  status;  gradual  progress  from  barbarism  and 
mediaeval  ages  to  the  present.  The  modern  wage-earner  has 
gained  legal  and  political  liberty,  but  not  economic  independence. 


SYLLABUS  XXV 


The  great  industry  has  revolutionized  social  relations.  The 
United  States,  the  last  of  the  great  nations  to  be  transformed; 
free  from  some  evils,  but  burdened  by  immigration  and 
sequences  of  slavery  of  negroes. 

The  present  system  includes:  1.  private  property;  2.  capi- 
talistic management;  3.  profits  to  owners;  4.  wages  to  operatives; 
5.  legal  freedom  of  contract.  The  new  politics  —  economic 
conscience;  social  duty  to  workers.  Testimonies  of  capitalists 
and  publicists. 

THE  POLICY  AND  ITS  PRINCIPLES 

I.  Regulated  liberty  of  organization;  mutual  benefit 
associations;  trade  unions  for  collective  bargaining;  attitude 
of  employers;  abuses;  regulation;  conciliation  and  arbitration: 
trade  courts. 

II.  Protection  by  law  of  health,  comfort,  and  safety  of 
workmen. 

HI.  The  beginning  of  a  movement  to  establish  by  law  a 
minimum  wage.  Historical  attempts  to  regulate  wages. 
The  new  basis,  value  of  personality,  worth  of  man. 

British  colonies  in  the  lead.  Recent  British  legislation, 
and  law  of  Massachusetts.     Discontent  with  parasitic  industries. 

IV.  Industrial  training.  Higher  wages  come  with  increased 
product,  with  greater  efficiency  of  labor  and  management. 
'  Education '  includes  all  preparation  for  efficient  living.  Mere 
literary  instruction  leaves  men  helpless.  Types,  technical  training. 

V.  Continuity  of  income;  prevention  of  loss  of  income 
from  sickness,  accident,  involuntary  unemployment.  The  pro- 
gramme of  factory  legislation. 

Conflict  with  unemployment,  whose  evils  are  now  better 
understood.  Crises,  depressions,  seasons,  maladjustments  — 
all  beyond  individual  control.  Ameliorative  measures:  labor 
exchanges;  foresight  of  public  powers;  industrial  training  of 
the  unfit;  vocational  guidance  for  youth. 

VI.  Social  insurance  against  inevitable  loss.  Defects  of 
charity  and  individual  savings.  Sickness,  accident,  invalidism, 
old  age,  death  of  father,  unemployment  are  regular  and 
calculable,  therefore,  insurable. 


XXvi  BARROWS  LECTURES 


To  all  these  partial  economic  measures  the  modern  workman 
seeks  to  have  a  creative  share  in  political  government. 

VII.  Ethical  and  spiritual  significance  of  these  policies. 
Prudence,  national  interest  involved;  but  also  philanthropy, 
justice,  religion.  They  cannot  be  carried  out  by  individuals 
or  classes;  they  require  co-operation,  brotherhood,  faith. 
Self-interest  is  too  weak.  Religion  includes  all  good  for  all 
men.  The  movement  and  agencies  to  promote  the  culture 
interests  of  the  Industrial  Group.  The  vision  of  'Faith  and 
the  Future'. 

VIII.  Women  as  beneficiaries  and  agents  of  social  improve- 
ment; beliefs,  ideals,  efforts  in  the  West. 

Christianity  teaches  the  infinite  worth  and  personal  responsi- 
bility of  every  human  being;  race  and  sex  are  indifferent. 
Women  have  a  right  to  health,  intelligence,  virtue,  hope,  faith, 
justice,  and  to  all  means  of  culture.  Secondary  differences  of 
sex  do  not  affect  the  supreme  qualities.  Men  need  educated, 
refined,  large-minded  companions.  Children  cannot  be  properly 
reared  by  gossips,  frivolous  and  ignorant  mothers.  Society 
is  degraded  when  women  are  despised.  A  nation  which 
neglects  its  girls  loses  more  than  half  its  efficiency,  power, 
and  virtue.  The  treatment  of  women  is  the  best  single  test  of 
national  culture.  Gcethe  expressed  V/estern  conviction  in  Faust: 
'The  woman  soul  leadeth  us  upward  and  onward*. 


LECTURE    VI 

PROVIDING   FOR  PROGRESS  OF  NATION  AND  HUMANITY 

Progress  here  means:  1.  improvement  in  the  capacity  and 
energy  of  a  people;  2.  better  conditions  of  existence;  3.  enrich- 
ment of  knowledge,  art,  and  character  of  the  people  by  discovery; 
democratic  ideals  to  be  conserved. 

I.  Material  conditions  of  advance:  1.  surplus  wealth, 
above  animal  needs;  2.  leisure,  not  through  slavery  and 
oppression,  but  by  shortening  hours  of  labor,  through 
improved  machinery  and  organization  and  legislation  (leisure 
here  means  not  unemployment  nor  indolence,  but  a  chance  at 


SYLLABUS  xxvii 


higher  work);  3.  abundant  vitahty.  The 'social  poh'cy' already 
sketched  is  the  method  of  securing  these  conditions  to  the 
people  everywhere. 

II.  The  eugenic  movement. 

1.  Natural  selection  is  result  of  struggle  and  survival  of 
the  adapted.  Progress  in  low  stages  of  life  won  by  this 
means;  the  tendency  of  the  ages  is  upward.  But  natural 
selection  is  costly,  wasteful,  painful. 

2.  In  the  process  of  evolution  sympathy  was  created ;  care 
for  the  weak;  but  emotion  alone  is  blind  and  unintentionally 
increases  misery. 

3.  The  eugenic  movement  brings  science  to  the  aid  of 
sympathy,  reason  to  the  help  of  charity.  Confused  hints  in 
the  Laws  of  Manu.  Rules  for  selecting  a  wife.  Plato  had  a 
vision,  but  his  method  was  immoral.  Sir  Francis  Galton 
deserves  honor  for  starting  the  modern  investigation.  Negative 
and  positive  eugenics. 

III.  Starting  points  of  spiritual  progress.  Vitality,  wealth, 
leisure  are  only  material  conditions.  Ideals  necessary.  Materi- 
alism only  one  aspect  of  life,  of  history,  of  sociology.  The 
primary  impulse  must  come  from  novel  ideas,  usually  embodied 
in  distinguished  personalities.  The  new  creation  may  begin 
in  science,  in  philosophy,  in  religion,  and  may  take  form  in 
invention,  organization,  administration. 

Culture  is  not  inherited;  it  must  be  acquired  by  each 
individual;  but  the  expressions  of  science,  art,  philosophy, 
religion  are  handed  down  by  society,  and  ideas  are  diffused 
by  education,  imitation. 

IV.  Humble  talents,  as  well  as  genius,  may  add  to  the 
common  heritage. 

V.  A  regime  of  freedom  of  thought,  speech,  and  publica- 
tion is  necessary  to  progress  of  knowledge.  Fanatics  and 
criminals  make  freedom  difficult  to  maintain,  since  order  and 
security  are  necessary  to  all  other  goods.  Impossible  to 
foresee  genius;  liberty  of  expression  and  criticism  alone  will 
tell.  The  criticism  of  the  competent  is  the  method  of  sifting 
out  chaff.  Dogmatic  assertion  of  authority,  by  Church  or 
school  or  party,  not  needed  by  modern  scholars.     Danger  to 


xxviii  BARROWS  LECTURES 

respect  for  religion  from  an  intolerant  and  narrow  temper  in 
Church  leaders. 

VI.  Educational  institutions  stimulate,  guide,  discipline, 
and  inspire  personal  progress.  Education  is  more  than 
instruction.  Instruction  in  elementary  and  secondary  schools 
imparts  what  is  known;  the  true  University  discovers  new 
truths;  but  individual  gifts,  creative  originality  must  be 
developed  at  every  stage  of  education. 

VII.  The  development  and  significance  of  nation-building 
in  the  West;  from  tribe  to  city  and  feudal  organization;  the 
function  of  kings,  as  Charlemagne,  and  central  royal  power. 
Outline  of  the  formation  of  the  British  People;  the  unification 
of  Italy,  Germany,  France,  the  United  States  (vast  assimilation 
of  foreign  elements,  and  its  methods).     The  vision  of  nationality 

in  Asia.    Intellectual,  economic,  and  moral  pre-conditions  of 
true,  modern,  national  spirit 

VIII.  The  kingdom  of  God,  the  social  ideal  of  Christendom. 
The  Parliament  of  Man,  the  Federation  of  the  world  only  the 
political  aspect  of  universal  harmony.  The  consummation 
beyond  the  horizon;  the  vision  already  potent  in  influence. 
The  'Symphony'  of  Lanier.     The  prophesy  of  Tennyson: 

'Ring  out  the  old,  ring  in  the  new. 

Ring  in  the  Christ  that  is  to  be. ' 
The  universal,   unsectarian  prayer:     'Our  Father  who  art  in 
heaven;  Thy  Kingdom  come'. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

An  excellent  list  is  found  in :  Guide  to  Reading  in '  Social  Ethics  and 
Allied  Subjects,  published  by  Instructors  in  Harvard  University  (1910). 

W.  D.  P.  B.  Bliss,  The  New  Encyclopedia  of  Social  Reform,  second  edition, 
contains  many  articles  with  lists  of  books. 


LECTURE  ONE 

FOUNDATIONS  OF  SOCIAL  PROGRAMMES  IN 
ECONOMIC  FACTS  AND  IN  IDEALS 

The  kind  reception  given  to  my  predecessors  in  this 
Lectureship  assures  me  at  once  of  a  genial  welcome.  We 
shall  have  a  good  understanding,  if  I  assure  you  that  my 
errand  is  frankly  not  to  advise  the  people  of  India  v^hat 
to  do,  but  rather  to  give  an  exposition  of  a  great  movement 
in  the  Western  World,  which  the  Germans  call  "Social 
Politics".  The  topics  and  contents  of  these  lectures  are 
very  different  from  those  offered  you  in  such  brilliant 
and  eloquent  form  by  Drs.  Barrows,  Fairbairn,  and  Hall. 
Stranger  as  I  am  to  this  wonderful  country,  I  could  not  be 
sure  that  the  themes,  which  it  is  my  daily  duty  to  consider 
and  expound  at  home,  would  be  suitable  for  India.  It 
seemed  to  me  an  experiment;  but  those  who  appointed 
me  thought  it  was  an  experiment  worth  trying,  and  several 
residents  of  India  said  they  thought  the  selection  of  subjects 
was  appropriate.  I  am  profoundly  grateful  for  the  confi- 
dence shown  me  by  the  directors  of  the  Lectureship. 

Human  nature  being,  in  all  essential  elements,  the 
same  the  world  over,  the  experiments  tried  in  Europe  or 
the  United  States  are  sure  to  have  some  value  in  the  East. 
This  is  at  least  the  assumption  which  underlies  the  argument. 
We  are  here  to  think  of  universal  human  interests,  far 
above  the  conflicts  of  partisanship  and  the  struggles  of 
ambitious  leaders  for  position  and  office.  We  are  to  con- 
sider that  system  of  measures  which  is  designed  to  promote 
the  welfare  of  the  common  people— welfare  at  once  vital, 
economic,  and  cultural.  This  brief  definition  will  naturally 
be  illustrated  by  the  entire  discussion. 

1 


BARROWS  LECTURES 


At  the  University  of  Chicago  we  have  teachers  of 
various  forms  of  faith,  even  agnostics,  sometimes  Oriental 
scholars.  If  a  gentleman  of  fair  name  and  repute  comes 
from  Asia,  the  fact  that  he  is  a  Mohammedan,  Hindu,  Con- 
fucianist  or  Buddhist  will  not  deprive  him  of  a  courteous 
hearing.  Our  belief  is  that  truth  is  self-evidencing  and  can 
bear  comparison  with  error,  and  also  that  truth  is  revealed 
in  some  degree  to  all  men  in  all  parts  of  the  earth.  If  a 
man  speaks  among  us,  we  wish  him  to  say  exactly  what 
he  thinks  and  to  give  his  reasons. 

That  liberty  and  courtesy,  I  understand,  I  am  to  enjoy 
here.  I  have  come  in  no  dogmatic  spirit,  and  ask  only 
that  thoughtful  consideration  of  my  positions  and  argu- 
ments which  your  own  kindness  and  self-respect  will 
guarantee  and  which  I  can  assure  to  you,  if  you  visit 
America  or  Europe. 

I  could  not  conceal,  if  I  would,  the  faith  by  which 
I  live.  I  am  a  theist  and  a  Christian.  I  believe  in  God 
the  Holy,  and  I  find  His  image  in  Christ.  There  is  mystery 
in  faith  and  there  are  many  things  I  do  not  profess  to 
know;  but  the  Christian  view  of  life,  of  God,  of  sin,  of 
duty,  of  redemption,  of  eternal  life,  seems  to  me  inherently 
reasonable,  and  practically  the  best  for  mankind.  It  is  the 
deepest,  most  earnest  wish  and  prayer  of  my  soul  that  you 
will  think  of  my  Master  lovingly,  as,  I  am  sure.  He  is  your 
friend. 

I  have  come  to  tell  you  something  of  the  modern 
revelation  of  Christ's  spirit  in  works  of  love,  kindness,  and 
justice;  what  He  is  doing  through  men  for  the  infant,  the 
sick,  the  insane,  the  poor,  the  criminal,  the  toiling  and  ill- 
paid  wage-earner.  This  concrete  message,  I  believe,  may 
be  helpful  here,  interfused  with  the  essential  spirit  which 
gives  it  all  aim,  ideal,  worth,  meaning.  This  is  what 
I  say  and  do  at  home,  in  Chicago;  and  I  cannot  change 
my  message  here,  for  it  would  not  be  honest. 


ECONOMIC  FACTS  AND  IDEALS 


I  am  to  speak  on  the  foundation  established  by  an 
honored  friend  of  my  University,  Mrs.  Haskell;  who  also 
caused  to  be  built  for  us  an  oriental  museum,  on  which 
is  carved  in  stone  the  significant  motto:  Ex  Oriente  Lux. 
She  wrote  in  her  letter  establishing  the  Barrows  Lecture- 
ship: 

I  have  been  struck  with  the  many  points  of  harmony  between 
the  different  faiths,  and  by  the  possibility  of  so  presenting  Christian- 
ity to  others  as  to  win  their  favorable  interest  in  its  truths.  If  the 
committee  shall  decide  to  utilize  this  Lectureship  still  further  in  call- 
ing forth  the  views  of  scholarly  representatives  of  non-Christian  faiths, 
I  authorize  and  shall  approve  such  a  decision.  Only  good  will  grow 
out  of  such  a  comparison  of  views. 

..  .1  cherish  the  expectation  that  the  Barrows  Lectures  will 
prove,  in  the  years  that  shall  come,  a  new  golden  bond  between  the 
East  and  West.  In  the  belief  that  this  foundation  will  be  blessed 
by  our  Heavenly  Father  to  the  extension  of  the  benign  influence  of 
our  great  University,  to  the  promotion  of  the  highest  interests  of 
humanity,  and  to  the  enlargement  of  the  Kingdom  of  Truth  and  Love 
on  earth, 

I  remain,  with  much  regard. 

Yours  sincerely, 

Caroline  E.  Haskell. 

With  the  aims  of  Mrs.  Haskell  here  expressed  I  am 
in  profound  sympathy.  Dr.  Barrows  himself  was  my 
warm  personal  friend. 

I  believe  that  the  essential  truths  of  Christianity  are 
reasonable  and  practical  in  all  the  world.  They  were 
first  announced  by  an  Oriental  and  they  were  wrought  out 
in  the  experience  of  the  Orient.  They  have  been  a 
blessing  to  us  and  we  believe  they  belong  to  all  men  and 
can  be  made  a  blessing  to  all  who  receive  them. 

I 

The  Economic  Evolution  of  modern  peoples  defines 
the  outward  form  and  material  conditions  of  the  problems 
of  social  programmes. 


BARROWS  LECTURES 


The  material  world  is  a  reality,  and  it  is  ever  changing. 
Life  upon  this  planet  never  continues  precisely  the  same. 
The  conditions  of  existence  determine  for  us  the  limits  of 
effort  and  the  material  means  by  which  we  can  work  to 
achieve  our  purposes. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  MEDI>EVALISM 

In  order  to  give  a  historic  background  for  this  dis- 
cussion, it  will  be  necessary  to  allude  to  the  economic 
condition  of  European  society  before  the  age  of  science 
and  steam-driven  machinery.  The  period  of  transition 
extended  from  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  to  the  nineteenth 
century,  but  each  country  had  its  own  rate  of  speed  in 
passing  over  this  stage  of  evolution;  and  the  changes  of 
the  last  hundred  years  have  proceeded  more  swiftly  than 
those  of  any  preceding  age. 

In  the  older  industrial  order  the  historians  have  dis- 
covered and  depicted '  the  following  traits:  1.  The  village 
or  small  community  was  isolated,  and,  in  consequence,  eco- 
nomically independent  and  self-sufficient.  2.  The  division 
of  labor  was  imperfect  and  rudimentary.  3.  The  capital 
employed  in  each  unit  of  industry  was  small.  4.  The 
direction  of  industry  was  in  the  hands  of  the  small  crafts- 
men, each  of  whom  worked  independently  on  his  own 
acccount.  5.  Trade  was  largely  barter,  and  international 
commerce  was  chiefly  in  articles  of  luxury.  The  market 
was  narrow  and  under  rigid  regulations.  Prices  were 
fixed  more  by  custom  than  by  competition.  6.  The  means 
of  transportation  were  so  imperfect  that  the  irregularities 

'  Sir  Theodore  Morison,  k.  c.  i.  e.,      W.  Cunningham,  Growth  of  English 
The  Economic  Transition  in  India.  —       Industry  and  Commerce.  —  K.  Bucher, 


G.  SCHMOLLER,  Mercantilism. —  Som-       Entstehung    der     Volhswirtschaft 
BART,  Der  moderne  Kapitalismas. —       A.Toynbee,  The  Industrial  Revolution 


X 


ECONOMIC  FACTS  AND  IDEALS 


of  production  could  not  be  adjusted.  Local  famine  could 
not  be  relieved  by  importations  from  favored  regions. 
7.  Vast  numbers  of  the  population  were  in  a  servile  or 
semi-servile  status,  without  hope  of  rising.  Many  were 
mendicants  and  parasites  by  profession,  and  their  guilds 
were  sometimes  recognized  as  legitimate  or  were  holy. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  MODERN  INDUSTRY  AND  EXCHANGE 

1.  The  interdependence  of  all  parts  of  the  industrial 
world  upon  each  other.  2.  The  concentration  of  labor  in 
factories  and  manufacturing  centers,  where  it  is  minutely 
divided  and  graded.  3.  The  aggregation  of  capital  in 
large  amounts  so  as  to  secure  the  advantage  of  production 
on  a  large  scale.  4.  The  direction  of  industry  and  com- 
merce by  expert  managers,  selected  by  a  fierce  competitive 
process.  5.  The  creation  of  a  group  of  persons  dependent 
on  daily  wages  for  their  livelihood;  neither  slave  nor  serf, 
but  free,  yet  without  the  instruments  of  production  and, 
therefore,  subordinate  to  capitalist  managers. 

This  skeleton  of  contrasting  forms  is  altogether  too 
absolute  and  requires  considerable  modification  to  make 
it  conform  to  the  reality.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  even  in  the 
advanced  countries  of  Europe  and  America  all  the  historical 
forms  of  industry  and  production  still  exist  and  persist, 
although  the  older  forms  tend  to  retire  into  obscure  corners 
and  the  Great  Industry  tends  to  dominate  the  national  life. 
Thus  we  find  still  surviving  the  hunting  of  game  and 
fishing  in  the  sea  and  inland  streams;  the  members  of 
a  household  producing  many  articles  of  food  and  clothing 
to  be  consumed  in  the  same  household.  In  other  cases  we 
still  find  artisans  going  from  farm  to  farm  to  repair 
machinery,  or  seamstresses  going  from  house  to  house 
making  clothing  for    wages,   themselves   being    without 


BARROWS  LECTURES 


capital  save  simple  tools,  and  the  customer  furnishing 
materials.  The  higher  form  of  organization  is  found  when 
the  small  manufacturer  makes  articles  to  order  for  his 
personal  circle  of  customers  in  the  village  or  rural 
neighborhood.  Still  more  developed  is  the  stage,  found 
even  in  large  cities,  where  the  trader  sends  out  the  raw 
materials  to  be  worked  up  in  the  houses  of  the  workmen, 
while  he  sells  the  finished  product  to  the  general  trade 
and  not  to  particular  consumers.  This  shows  that  India 
is  not  essentially  different  from  Europe  and  America;  that 
it  has  all  the  same  industrial  organizations;  and  that  the 
differences  lie  in  the  degree  of  development.  All  forms 
which  serve  an  end  well  and  are  adapted  to  the  conditions 
of  life  have  their  justification^  and  will  persist  so  long 
as  they  are  useful. 

In  the  book  of  Morison  just  now  cited,  it  is  shown 
that  India,  apparently,  is  passing  through  a  transition 
similar  to  that  from  which  European  nations  have  emerged, — 
similar  though  not  identical.  Agriculture  is  still  domi- 
nant in  India  as  in  Europe  of  the  past.  The  population  is 
diffused  over  the  land.  The  village  community  has  been 
independent  and  supported  itself  by  its  simple,  primitive 
industries.  The  implements  of  toil  have  been  primitive. 
The  means  of  transportation  have  been  defective  or  want- 
ing. Railways  are  of  recent  origin  and  development.  Now, 
India  is  building  large  establishments,  extending  railways, 
attracting  laborers  from  farms  to  factories,  and  is  passing 
from  a  situation  where  custom  and  status  rule  social  rela- 
tions to  one  where  the  workers  have  no  ownership  in  the 
costly  machinery  of  production  nor  in  the  product  of  their 
labor,  but  depend  upon  capitalists  and  traders  for  wages. 
Point  for  point  India  is  following  the  same  lines  of  econo- 
mic evolution;  how  rapidly,  we  do  not  yet  know.     What 

*  See  BOCHER,  Entstehang  der  Votkswirtschaft,  p.  163,  2.  Aufl.,  1898. 


ECONOMIC  FACTS  AND  IDEALS 


is  rare  and  exceptional  now  in  small  groups  of  wage- 
earners  under  capitalistic  enterprise  may  before  very  long 
come  to  be  very  general  and  important. 

The  economic  process  which  I  have  just  characterized 
was  never  in  any  country  the  result  of  a  definite  plan  or 
social  policy.  It  moved  by  forces  which  were  out  of  sight. 
The  individual  choices  of  the  plans  of  particular  men  were 
engulfed  in  this  oceanic  current  and  borne  onward. 

But  the  movements  which  we  are  here  to  illustrate 
are  real  policies ;  they  are  the  programmes  of  human  beings 
acting  by  concerted  public  volition,  in  view  of  common 
knowledge  and  for  common  ends. 

The  wisdom  of  formulating  such  a  general,  national, 
far-looking  policy  appears  in  this  citation  (conclusion  of 
Morison,  pp.  241-2):  "This  brief  survey  of  a  large  question 
must  now  be  brought  to  an  end;  the  conclusion  to  which 
it  points  is  that  India's  industrial  transformation  is  near  at 
hand;  the  obstacles  which  have  hitherto  prevented  the 
adoption  of  modern  methods  of  manufacture  have  been 
removed;  means  of  transport  have  been  spread  over  the 
face  of  the  whole  country,  capital  for  the  purchase  of 
machinery  and  erection  of  factories  may  now  be  borrowed 
on  easy  terms;  mechanics,  engineers,  and  business  mana- 
gers may  be  hired  from  Europe  to  train  the  future  captains 
of  Indian  industry.  In  English  a  common  language  has 
been  found  in  which  to  transact  business  with  all  the 
provinces  of  India  and  with  a  great  part  of  the  Western 
World;  security  from  foreign  invasion  and  internal  com- 
motion justifies  the  inception  of  large  enterprises.  All  the 
conditions  are  favorable  for  a  great  reorganization  of  in- 
dustry which,  when  successfully  accomplished,  will  bring 
about  an  increase  hitherto  undreamt  of  in  India's  annual 
output  of  wealth.  Whether  this  change  will  be  accom- 
panied by  the  evils  which  have  disfigured  the  industrial 
revolution  in  the  West  is  a  question  which  lies  behind  the 


8  BARROWS  LECTURES 

curtain  of  the  future.  We  can  only  hope  that  India  may 
be  warned  in  time  by  the  example  of  Europe,  and  that  her 
industrial  revolution  may  not  be  disfigured  by  the  reckless 
waste  of  human  life  and  human  happiness  which  has 
stained  the  annals  of  European  industry.  Most  of  all  must 
we  wish  that  in  the  fierce  struggle  for  material  wealth  she 
may  not  lose  the  lofty  idealism  by  which  she  has  hitherto 
been  so  nobly  distinguished."  Morison  has  proved  that 
India  is  now  on  the  right  road  to  economic  prosperity; 
that  she  can  win  the  means  of  subsistence  and  that  at  a 
higher  level  than  ever  before,  for  all  her  citizens. 

My  lectures  aim  to  give  the  most  important  lessons 
of  this  costly  Western  experience  as  to  the  wisest  means 
of  avoiding  what  Morison  fears. 

It  does  not  seem  to  me  necessary  that  Japan,  China, 
and  India  should  repeat  our  blunders  and  grope  their  way. 
We  in  the  West  had  to  pass  over  a  route  which  had  never 
been  explored.  It  was  a  voyage  toward  an  unknown 
world.  When  the  Western  peoples  began  their  new  eco- 
nomic career,  modern  science  was  not  yet  born.  Medical 
art  was  in  a  backward  state.  Public  hygiene  was  in  its 
Infancy.  Europe  and  America  can  now  offer  without  price 
to  the  Orient  all  that  it  has  bought  at  so  great  a  cost  of 
trial  and  failure,  of  ordered  experiment  and  bungling 
error. 

To  indicate  in  large  outlines  what  we  have  gained  and 
have  to  present  to  nations  just  entering  the  "Industrial 
Revolution"  is  one  purpose  of  these  lectures. 

India  is  not  stagnant. 

Stanley-Lane-Poole  (Mediceval  India  under  Moham- 
medan Rule,  712-1764)  concludes  his  learned  and  in- 
structive book  by  saying: 

The  conquerors  of  India  have  come  in  hordes  again  and  again, 
but  they  have  scarcely  touched  the  soul  of  the  people.  The  Indian 
is  still,  in  general,  what  he  always  was,  in  spite  of  them  all ;  and, 


ECONOMIC  FACTS  AND  IDEALS 


however  forcible  the  new  and  unprecedented  influences  now  at 
work  upon  an  instructed  minority,  one  can  with  difficulty  imagine 
any  serious  change  in  the  rooted  character  and  time-honored  in- 
stincts of  the  vast  mass  of  the  people ;  nor  is  it  at  all  certain  that 
such  change  would  be  for  the  better. 

The  East  bowed  low  before  the  blast, 

In  patient,  deep  disdain; 

She  let  the  legions  thunder  past, 

And  plunged  in  thought  again. 

The  conclusion  here  seems  to  be  that  India  is  ex- 
ceptional in  human  history,  does  not  need  to  advance,  and 
is  incapable  of  further  development. 

But,  while  declining  to  assume  the  role  of  a  prophet, 
one  may  point  out  certain  historical  and  psychological  facts 
which  seem  to  indicate  a  different,  perhaps  a  brighter  and 
more  hopeful  outlook. 

1.  The  first  of  these  facts  is  that  the  nations  of 
Northern  Europe  were  overrun  for  centuries  by  foreign 
legions;  and  that  the  Roman  military  superiority  left  hardly 
a  trace.  But  the  ideas  of  the  ancient  culture  of  Greece, 
Rome,  and  Palestine,  mediated  by  teachers,  remained  deep 
in  the  soil  of  the  popular  soul,  long  after  the  Roman  legions 
had  fled  before  the  vigorous  races  armed  to  conquer  their 
conquerors.  The  lesson  is  that  ideas  are  the  permanent 
masters  of  a  race;  that  all  external  force  is  evanescent, 
however  important  its  service  in  opening  a  road  for  ideas. 

2.  The  second  fact  to  be  mentioned  is  that  modern 
Europe  grew  out  of  mediaeval  Europe  when  the  methods 
of  modern  science  replaced  a  barren  metaphysical  and 
unscientific  method.  The  Renaissance  gave  the  impulse; 
the  chemists,  physicists,  and  physiologists  of  the  eighteenth 
and  nineteenth  centuries  carried  the  movement  onward.  The 
cities  of  Europe  suffered  for  over  a  thousand  years,  helpless 
and  hopeless,  from  the  famines,  plagues,  and  pests  which 
spread  woe  and  death  over  the  continent;  they  had  men 
who  "plunged  in  thought";  the  monasteries  were  full  of 


10  BARROWS  LECTURES 

meditative  men;  prayers  and  ritual  were  not  wanting  and 
they  were  passionately  sincere.  It  was  the  method  of 
science  which  gave  to  all  the  idealism  of  Europe  an  instru- 
ment of  power  to  realize  itself,  to  awaken  from  its  horrid 
dream  and  assert  its  spiritual  liberty,  its  right  to  dominate 
nature,  its  duty  to  develop  from  within.  A  petty  race  may 
be  annihilated  by  force.  A  great  race  cannot  be  anni- 
hilated, and  a  military  conquest  is  wholly  external  to  the 
people.  It  is  what  the  soul  of  the  people  produces  which 
is  significant. 

3.  The  third  fact  is  that  the  Indian  people  are  even 
now,  and  on  a  gigantic  scale,  passing  through  a  revolution 
which  never  came  to  it  before.  It  is  not  a  foreign  con- 
quest, it  is  not  a  superficial  political  change;  it  is  an 
intellectual  movement  within,  answering  with  intelligent 
action  to  material  requirements;  and  it  is  full  of  power 
and  hope.  All  the  European  nations,  after  ages  of  slumber, 
have  passed  through  this  revolution  and  come  forth  at  a 
higher  level.     India  has  begun  to  climb. 

Japan,  —  after  waiting  for  the  magic  touch  of  science  — 
has  advanced  far  on  the  way  of  its  transformation.  China 
has  shown  capacity  for  the  same  career.  Who  shall 
venture  to  say  that  the  Indian  people  alone  are  to  be  left 
isolated,  unmoved,  stagnant,  while  all  the  rest  of  the  Orient 
is  in  commotion  and  ferment? 

4.  The  fourth  consideration  is  that  science,  which  is 
the  new  beginning  of  all  national  progress,  is  not  patented, 
cannot  be  monopolized,  and  can  be  accepted  without  hu- 
miliation. It  is  world  property.  Every  human  being  has 
a  right  to  it.  It  has  no  boundaries.  Science  has  on  it  no 
national  mark.  As  Mrs.  Browning  said:  "For  the  truth 
itself,  that  is  neither  man's  nor  woman's,  but  just  God's." 
Therefore,  it  belongs  to  all  His  children.  This  is  only  the 
religious  form  of  expressing  the  idea  that  truth  is  universal. 
We  may,  then,  reasonably  and  safely  argue  from  the  solid 


ECONOMIC  FACTS  AND  IDEALS  1 1 

basis  of  historical  facts  that  India  is,  in  all  probability,  at 
the  bright  dawn  of  a  new  era. 

Upon, the  one  vital  point,  fundamental  to  all  else, 
I  cite  an  excellent  authority:  "Some  agricultural  experts 
despair  of  the  improvement  of  agriculture,  because  they 
have  taken  the  Indian  peasant  to  be  a  living  emblem  of 
inertia.  But,  in  reality,  the  peasant  is  not  so  conservative 
as  he  is  often  thought  to  be.  He  is  not  quite  unwilling 
to  adopt  improved  methods,  but  these  must  be  shown  to 
be  capable  of  giving  better  results.  In  order  to  induce 
the  peasant  to  adopt  improved  methods,  the  experts  must 
prove,  not  on  paper,  but  by  actual  farming,  that  these  are 
paying  and  are  suitable  to  the  conditions  under  which  the 
cultivator  lives."  (P.  Banerjea,  Indian  Economics,  p.  72,  and 
he  refers  to  Dr.  Volcker,  Improvement  of  Indian  Agriculture, 
and  D.  L.  Roy,  Crops  of  Bengal.)  The  demonstration  work 
of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  rests  on  this 
principle.  The  peasant  reasons  that  he  can  at  least  exist 
by  following  traditional  methods;  and  he  cannot  afford  to 
risk  his  all  on  a  "theory".  He  is  right  and  rational.  Let 
governments  and  rich  capitalists,  with  a  surplus  and  mar- 
gin, erect  "experimental  stations";  they  should  do  so;  but 
what  an  actual  farmer  needs  and  wants  is  a  "demonstration  " 
It  is  so  in  religion  and  other  matters.  Men  want  not  an 
experiment,  but  an  experience,  not  a  theory,  or  doctrine, 
or  history  of  far  away  events,  but  a  "demonstration"  in  life 
and  action  and  service. 

I  also  bring  to  your  consideration  the  sublime  vista 
opened  to  our  spirits  by  my  learned  colleague,  distinguished 
as  a  geologist,  with  the  vision  of  a  seer.  Indian  history  is 
part  of  a  drama  whose  theatre  is  the  universe  in  which  we 
all  dwell. 

"While,  therefore,  there  is   to  be,  with   little 

doubt,  an  end  to  the  earth  as  a  planet,  and  while  perhaps 
previous  to  that  end  conditions  inhospitable  to  life  may 


1 2  BARRO  WS  LECTURES 

be  reached,  the  forecast  of  these  contingencies  places  the 
event  in  the  indeterminate  future.  The  geologic  analogies 
give  fair  ground  for  anticipating  conditions  congenial  to 
life  for  millions  or  tens  of  millions  of  years  to  come,  not 
to  urge  the  even  larger  possibilities. 

But  congeniality  of  conditions  does  not  ensure  actual 
realization.  There  arise  at  once  questions  of  biological 
adaptation,  of  vital  tenacity  and  of  purposeful  action. 
Appeal  to  the  record  of  the  animal  races  reveals  in  some 
cases  a  marvellous  endurance,  in  others  the  briefest  of 
records,  while  the  majority  fall  between  the  extremes. 
Many  families  persisted  for  millions  of  years.  A  long 
career  for  man  may  not,  therefore,  be  denied  on  historical 
grounds,  neither  can  it  be  assured;  it  is  an  individual 
race  problem;  it  is  a  special  case  of  the  problem  of  the 
races  in  the  largest  sense  of  the  phrase. 

But  into  the  problem  of  human  endurance  two  new 
factors  have  entered,  the  power  of  definite  moral  purpose 
and  the  resources  of  research.  No  previous  race  has 
shown  clear  evidence  that  it  was  guided  by  moral  purpose 
in  seeking  distant  ends.  In  man  such  moral  purpose 
has  risen  to  distinctness.  As  it  grows,  beyond  question, 
it  will  count  in  the  perpetuity  of  the  race  ....  It  will 
become  more  critical  as  the  growing  multiplicity  of  the 
race  brings  upon  it,  in  increasing  stress,  the  distinctive 
humanistic  phases  of  the  struggle  for  existence  now  dimly 
foreshadowed.  It  will,  beyond  question,  be  more  fully 
realized,  as  the  survival  of  the  fittest  shall  render  its 
verdict  on  what  is  good  and  what  is  evil  in  this  realm 
of  the  moral  world. 

But  to  be  most  efficient,  moral  purpose  needs  to  be 
conjoined  with  the  highest  intelligence,  and  herein  lies  the 
function  of  research.  None  of  the  earlier  races  made 
systematic  inquiry  into  the  conditions  of  life  and  sought 
thereby  to  extend  their  careers.     What  can  research  do 


ECONOMIC  FACTS  AND  IDEALS  13 

for  the  extension  of  the  career  of  man?  We  are  witnesses 
of  what  it  is  beginning  to  do  in  rendering  the  forces  of 
nature  subservient  to  man's  control  and  in  giving  him 
command  over  the  maladies  of  which  he  has  long  been 
the  victim.  Can  it  master  the  secrets  of  vital  endurance, 
the  mysteries  of  heredity,  and  all  the  fundamental  physio- 
logical processes  that  condition  the  longevity  of  the  race? 
The  answer  must  be  left  to  the  future,  but  I  take  no  risk 
in  affirming  that,  when  ethics  and  research  join  hands  in 
a  broad  and  earnest  endeavor  to  compass  the  highest  de- 
velopment and  the  greatest  longevity  of  the  race,  the  era  of 
humanity  will  really  have  begun."* 

The  burden  of  tradition  and  custom  of  the  dead  past 
is  finely  characterized  in  Sidney  Lanier's  Barnacles,  and 
there  also  is  the  forward  look  of  the  illumined  and 
awakened  spirit: 

^- 
My  soul  is  sailing  through  the  sea;       i 

But  the  Past  is  heavy  and  hindereth  me. 

The  Past  hath  crusted  cumbrous  shells 

That  hold  the  flesh  of  cold  sea-mells 

About  my  soul. 

The  huge  waves  wash,  the  high  waves  roll, 

Each  barnacle  clingeth  and  worketh  dole 

And  hindereth  me  from  sailing. 

Old  Past  let  go,  and  drop  i'  the  sea 
Till  fathomless  waters  cover  thee ! 
For  I  am  living  but  thou  art  dead ; 
Thou  drawest  back,  I  strive  ahead 

The  Day  to  find. 
Thy  shells  unbind !  Night  comes  behind, 
I  needs  must  hurry  with  the  wind 
And  trim  me  best  for  sailing. 


*  Professor    T.  C.  Chamberlin       Opportunities  of  our  Race,  ■pp.  \2-\Z, 
in  A  Geologic  Forecast  of  the  future      Science  Dec.  31,  1909. 


14  BARROWS  LECTURES 

II 

SOCIAL  FAITH  IN  THE  SOCIAL  POLICY  OF  THE  OCCIDENT 

The  religious  creed  which  inspires  this  policy  is  based 
on  a  conviction  that  this  universe  in  which  we  live,  the 
world  known  to  us,  is  at  its  core  full  of  meaning,  and  the 
meaning  good.  It  is  expressed  by  Browning  in  many 
ways,  as  in  these  words: 

V'Tis  better  being  good  than  bad ; 
Tis  better  being  mild  than  fierce; 
'Tis  better  being  sane  than  mad; 
My  own  hope  is  a  sun  will  pierce 
The  thickest  cloud  earth  ever  stretched; 
That  after  last  returns  the  first, 
Though  a  wide  compass  round  be  fetched; 
That  what  began  best,  can't  end  worst, 
Nor  what  God  blessed  once  prove  accursed. 

My  honored  friend  Mr.  C.S.  Loch,  of  London,  recog- 
nized leader  and  representative  of  international  philan- 
thropic movements,  has  expressed  this  faith  for  all  philan- 
thropists in  our  age:    "Charity  is  the  very  life  of  religion, 

above  all  of  Christianity Is  it  not  possible,  then,  for 

those  who,  by  their  religious  faith  are  believers  in  charity, 
to  unite,  as  they  have  never  yet  done,  for  the  true  and 
honorable  fulfilment  of  the  task  which  their  faith  impresses 
on  them  —  Levite,  priest,  and  Samaritan  —  conforming,  non- 
conforming, cleric  and  lay,  men  and  women? Cannot 

all,  putting  aside  lesser  matters  of  difference,  try  to  find  an 
orthodoxy  in  charity  and  charitable  method?  In  the  hope 
that  now  or  some  day  this  may  be  possible,  and  that  there 
may  be  a  new  unity  in  this  vital  social  faith,  this  book  has 
been  written."^ 

A  "social  policy"  is  the  form  taken  by  the  social  faith 
-Hn  response  to  the  particular  needs  of  the  age,  the  land, 

^XHhan'ty  and  Social  Life,  pp.  477-8. 


ECONOMIC  FACTS  AND  IDEALS  15 

the  group  under  consideration.  The  phases  of  that  policy 
can  be  made  clear  only  by  taking  concrete  problems  and 
measures  for  discussion. 

A  "social  policy"  implies  and  assumes  a  certain 
philosophy  of  life  and,  with  me  at  least,  a  certain  religious 
faith.  This  faith  proves  its  worth  and  reasonableness 
by  its  works.  It  is  living  and  it  is  prophetic  and  creative. 
To  us  who  believe  in  a  progressive  social  policy,  the 
world  is  not  merely  pushed  forward  by  blind  physical 
forces;  it  moves  onward  toward  aims  clearly  set  before 
the  human  will  and  realized  gradually  by  concerted  labors 
directed  by  science.  This  policy  is,  root  and  branch, 
ethical;  it  is  morality  organized,  vivified,  guided  by 
growing  knowledge,  and  inspired  by  faith. 

1.  Morality  includes  the  disposition,  the  will.  Out 
of  the  heart  are  the  issues  of  life.  Good  fruit  grows  only 
on  good  trees.  We  cannot  insist  too  strongly  on  inner 
character,  on  uprightness  of  motive,  on  loving  kindness. 
Even  when  we  are  too  weak  or  ignorant  to  achieve 
results,  it  is  something  to  will  the  good,  to  aim  at  the 
best  we  know,  even  if  our  hands  are  feeble  and  external 
circumstances  defeat  our  ambitions. 

2.  But  morality  is  also  action,^  and  that  action  which 
is  helpful,  useful  to  humanity,  to  all  mankind.  The  social 
welfare  test  must  be  applied  to  all  conduct;  the  deed  is 
the  revelation  of  the  inward  purpose  and  intelligence. 
Our  Master  of  Christendom  did,  indeed,  dwell  on  the 
necessity  of  spiritual  vision,  of  holy  desires,  of  just  and 
loving  intentions,  down  in  the  very  springs  of  all  activity, 
in  the  heart  and  will.  But  in  the  sublime  vision  of  the 
Eternal  Judgment  He  also  insists,  as  the  test  of  true 
discipleship,   that   all   who  are  truly   on  His  side,   have 

'J.   Makarewitz,    "Tugend   ist       sellschaftlich  niitzlichen  Handlungen 
diejenige  Richtung  des  Willens,  diese       aussert. " 
nsychische  Kraft,  welche  sich  in  ge- 


16  BARROWS  LECTURES 

acted  in  accordance  with  their  professions:  they  have  fed  the 
hungry,  clothed  the  naked,  been  hospitable  to  the  stranger, 
pitiful  to  the  prisoner  chained  to  floors  of  dark  dungeons. 
These  are  all  outward,  visible,  tangible,  verifiable  deeds, 
and  not  merely  emotions,  sentiments,  and  professions. 

3.  Modern  morality,  in  conduct  and  programmes, 
must  live  up  to  the  best  light.  It  is  inexcusable  in  us  to 
tolerate  conditions  which  our  ancestors  did  not  know  were 
wrong  and  evil.  We  must  not  only  intend  to  bring  forth 
good  fruits,  but  we  must  also  actually  produce  them. 

Before  science  came,  men  were  not  to  blame  for  ways 
of  conduct  which  now  are  detestable.  It  is  our  duty  to 
follow  the  brightest  light  God  gives  us.  Wherever  there 
is  a  consensus  of  experts,  there  is  a  plain  moral  obligation 
to  follow  with  concerted  action.  Some  of  the  most  im- 
portant legislation  of  recent  years  rests  on  this  moral  prin- 
ciple; and,  in  spite  of  the  written  constitutions  of  the  United 
States  prepared  in  the  eighteenth  century,  our  Supreme  Court 
has  reversed  time-honored  laws,  because  they  no  longer 
spoke  the  voice  of  science  and  enlightened  public  opinion. 
They  have  read  into  the  ancient  law  a  broader,  richer, 
nobler  meaning  than  that  our  forefathers  conceived. 

One  essential  characteristic  of  these  social  programmes 
which  distinguishes  the  modern  from  the  mediaeval  policies, 
is  the  control  of  scientific  method.  In  this  connection  it 
is  worth  while  to  quote  Dr.  Ira  Remsen,  president  of 
Johns  Hopkins  University.  At  a  conference  of  city  officials 
and  others  in  Baltimore,  shortly  after  the  establishment 
of  the  department  of  legislative  reference  in  that  city, 
he  said: 

It  may  fairly  be  said  that  that  nation  which  makes  most  use  of 
the  scientific  method  is  the  most  advanced  nation,  taking  everything 
into  consideration,  and  in  the  long  run  that  nation  will  outstrip  the 
others.  That  the  industries  are  dependent  upon  the  cultivation  of 
the  sciences  is  well  known.  Innumerable  striking  examples  of  this 
could  be  given.    It  has  also  been  shown  that  in  the  study  of  the 


ECONOMIC  FACTS  AND  IDEALS  17 

problems  of  government,  whether  these  problems  be  those  of  a 
municipality,  of  a  state,  or  of  a  nation,  the  scientific  method  is  of 
vital  importance.  What  this  method  is,  may  be  summed  up  in  a 
very  few  words.  It  is  that  method  that  proceeds  in  the  most 
sensible  way  to  solve  problems.  Whenever  a  wise  man  has  a 
problem  to  deal  with,  he  first  endeavors  to  find  out  what  the  facts 
are,  and  after  he  has  learned  the  facts,  he  proceeds  to  action;  his 
conclusions  are  drawn  from  the  knowledge  of  the  facts. 


Ill 

PURPOSES  AND  SCOPE  OF  THESE  LECTURES 

1.  As  already  hinted,  I  have  not  in  mind  specific 
proposals  for  direction  of  the  Orient;  the  policy  of  a  people 
must  be  worked  out  by  itself,  with  all  the  help  it  can 
command  from  modern  science.  This  is  a  slow  and 
tedious  process;  but  for  this  travail  there  is  no  substitute. 
What  is  done,  or  apparently  done,  for  a  people,  in  spite 
of  their  desires  or  without  their  intelligent  and  willing 
co-operation,  is  not  valuable  nor  permanent,  because  it 
remains  a  thing  externa',  to  their  minds,  their  wishes, 
their  habits.  Only  that  wnich  expresses  the  character  of 
a  community  will  endure;  all  that  is  imposed  from  without 
falls  into  ruin  and  decay. 

2.  But  I  do  have  the  ambition  to  describe,  illustrate, 
and  explain  some  of  the  essential  aims,  tendencies,  and 
reasons  of  the  social  policy  of  the  Western  World,  es- 
pecially of  that  country  wfth  which  I  am  most  familiar,  the 
United  States.  If  from  this  sketch  and  the  facts  brought 
forward  the  people  of  the  East  and  their  leaders  find  any 
building  materials  for  their  own  social  creations,  they  are 
welcome  to  tear  down  what  is  here  presented  and  use  any 
pieces  of  stone,  steel,  glass,  or  terra-cotta  which  may  be 
convenient  for  their  own  plans. 

2 


18  BARROWS  LECTURES 


3.  Principles  of  organization  and  conduct  may  be 
disclosed  which  are  based  on  general,  perhaps  universal, 
factors  of  human  nature  and  needs.  Such  regulative 
principles  are  discovered  by  a  careful  and  intensive  study 
of  particular  facts  and  local  strivings. 

It  is  true  that,  before  such  principles  can  be  applied 
by  a  community  to  which  they  are  presented,  they  must 
first  be  taken  up,  considered,  sifted,  and  tested  by  the  best 
thought  of  that  community  itself. 

4.  I  wish  to  enjoy  fellowship  with  my  honored  hosts, 
my  oriental  colleagues  in  the  sacred  studies  of  science  and 
in  the  education  of  aspiring  youth.  Sincerely  do  I  value 
this  opportunity  to  learn  from  the  Orient,  to  discover  by 
comparison  and  discussion  what  is  merely  local  and  acci- 
dental in  my  generalizations,  and  so  to  rise  to  a  broader 
and  nobler  view  of  what  is  genuinely  human,  universal. 

The  Barrows  lecturer  is  not  merely  commissioned  to 
give  lectures  in  the  East;  he  is  expected  to  return  to 
America  and  there  tell  at  least  some  of  the  things  he  has 
learned.  Mrs.  Haskell  expressly  said:  "If  the  committee 
shall  decide  to  utilize  this  lectureship  still  further  in 
calling  forth  the  views  of  scholarly  representatives  of  non- 
Christian  faiths,  I  authorize  and  shall  approve  such  a 
decision.  Only  good  will  grow  out  of  such  a  comparison 
of  views."  Therefore,  it  will  be  a  distinct  favor  to  the 
lecturer  to  have  his  attention  called,  by  conversation,  letter 
or  reference  to  books  and  documents,  to  any  matters 
relating  to  his  subject,  and  which  justice  and  truth  require 
should  be  published  in  the  West. 

5.  It  is  necessary,  especially  in  view  of  the  limits 
of  time  for  these  conferences,  to  rigidly  confine  my  dis- 
cussion to  certain  limited  fields  of  thought  and  action,  and 
even  here  to  select  carefully  what  seems  most  significant 
and  vital  for  our  purpose.  Therefore,  we  shall  consider 
chiefly  those   movements   and  measures  of  the  Western 


ECONOMIC  FACTS  AND  IDEALS  19 

World  which  relate  to  community  action,  on  a  large  scale, 
for  those  groups  of  citizens  whose  well-being  depends  on 
the  co-operation  and  help  of  the  entire  people.  And,  more 
explicitly:  the  social  policy  which  aims  to  deal  rationally 
and  kindly  with 

a)  Those  who  are  economically  dependent  on  society 
for  their  very  existence.  These  include  the  indigent,  r/s: 
orphans  or  abandoned  children,  widows  without  resources, 
families  in  distress,  the  aged  men  and  women  who  are 
without  property  or  relatives  able  to  support  them,  and 
the  insane  and  feeble-minded  whose  physical  condition 
makes  assistance  imperative. 

b)  This  social  policy  also  relates  to  common  action 
in  relation  to  the  anti-social  groups,  and  to  laws,  insti- 
tutions and  agencies  for  repression,  defence,  correction, 
and  prevention  of  crime. 

c)  The  wage-earners,  especially  the  unskilled  and 
least  efficient,  though  not  these  exclusively. 

d)  In  all  this  we  must  keep  in  mind  the  social  function 
of  exceptional  men  and  groups,  the  most  vigorous,  pro- 
gressive, advanced,  people  of  talent  and  genius  whose 
function  and  duty  it  is  to  lead  the  nation  to  higher  levels. 
For  what  the  discoverer  and  inventor  possess  alone  to-day 
will  sometime  in  the  future  belong  to  all,  will  bless  and 
enrich  all.  Therefore,  our  social  policy  must  include 
provisions  for  discovering,  stimulating,  encouraging,  and 
utilizing  to  the  utmost  the  rare  and  gifted  personalities 
whose  birth  is  often  among  the  humble,  whose  early 
efforts  are  often  hampered  by  poverty,  and  whose  ob- 
scurity of  origin  may  so  conceal  them  from  timely  recog- 
nition that  the  world  may  lose  their  extraordinary  service 
and  all  be  poorer  for  the  oversight. 

6.  The  cements  of  a  social  policy  are  determined  by 
the  universal  needs  of  humanity.  These  may  be  briefly 
indicated  under  these  heads: 


20  BARROWS  LECTURES 

a)  An  adequate  social  policy  for  any  people  must 
lay  a  deep  foundation  in  national  health,  A  physically 
feeble  people  cannot  accomplish  as  much  as  a  powerful 
and  vigorous  race.  The  promotion  of  health  is  a  common 
interest  and  a  common  duty.  This  policy  must  include 
not  merely  the  care  of  the  present  generation,  but  must 
also  look  to  racial  improvement  by  measures  of  protection, 
nurture,  and  selection. 

b)  The  industrial  efficiency,  the  largest  production 
and  the  most  equitable  distribution  of  material  means  of 
existence  and  well-being  must  be  a  part  of  the  policy  of 
a  great  nation.  The  poverty  of  the  poorest  is  the  loss 
of  all ;  the  welfare  of  the  weakest  is  the  concern  especially 
of  the  most  gifted  and  successful. 

c)  The  spiritual  progress  of  men  must  be  included 
in  a  worthy  and  comprehensive  policy.  Science,  art,  mo- 
rality, genial  fellowship,  and  religion  are  essential  factors 
in  a  noble  and  truly  human  existence. 

There  are  writers  who  seem  to  think  and  who  seek 
to  give  the  impression  that  "social  welfare"  means  in- 
crease of  material  possessions  and  better  distribution  of 
income.  It  does  include  that.  But,  the  world  over,  the 
noblest  representatives  of  every  great  race  and  nation  will 
repudiate  the  narrow  and  unworthy  conception  that  mate- 
rial good  is  the  ultimate  end  of  life.  Whatever  is  true, 
beautiful,  and  good  is  included  in  the  ends  for  which  we 
strive,  as  individuals  and  as  co-operating  associations 
of  men. 

The  view  of  Professor  S.  N.  Patten  is  here  presented, 
because  it  emphasizes  the  difference  between  mere  political 
forms  and  parties  and  the  more  profound  interests  of 
humanity  which  may  be  fostered  under  various  govern- 
mental forms: 

A  social  programme  must  meet  five  tests:  Does  it  make  for  peace;, 
does  it  increase  prosperity;   does  it  mal<e  men  tolerant;  does  it 


ECONOMIC  FACTS  AND  IDEALS  21 

■ ! 7 ■ ' "^ 

increase  co-operation;  does  it  lead  to  an  evolution?  On  the  other 
hand,  it  must  avoid  five  evils:  war,  distress,  dogmatism,  struggle, 
and  revolution.  The  old  political  philosophy  has  never  avoided 
these  evils.  Distress,  dogmatism,  and  revolution  have  ever  followed 
its  dominance.  And  the  reason  is  plain.  It  emphasizes  rights  and 
ignores  consequences.  Its  decisions  are  based  on  present  feelings 
and  not  on  future  results.  Every  alteration  in  dominant  passions 
leads  straight  to  political  revolution.  New  policies  do  not  embody 
nor  grow  out  of  the  results  of  preceding  epochs,  but  are  the  ex- 
pression of  some  untried  political  dogma.  Men  wipe  out  the  past 
instead  of  profiting  by  its  lessons. 

The  doctrine  of  the  recall  is  the  final  form  of  this  old  philosophy, 
because  it  emphasizes  the  irresponsibiHty  for  results  that  charac- 
terizes revolution.  Were  it  merely  the  basis  of  a  political  philosophy, 
we  might  ignore  it  as  a  passing  whim.  Under  other  names,  the 
same  thought  is  undermining  the  stability  of  moral,  social,  and 
industrial  life.  Ellen  Key  is  advocating  marriage  recall  to  free  people 
from  their  family  pledges,  while  Bernard  Shaw  is  desirous  of  employ- 
ing a  moral  recall  to  get  rid  of  the  rigidity  of  the  decalogue.  Some 
people  are  also  upholding  a  word-of-honor  recall  to  get  rid  of  the 
political  promises  their  leader  has  made.  A  recall  of  contracts 
would  he  in  line  with  these  precedents.  If  freedom  is  a  human  right, 
why  bother  about  the  consequences  of  yesterday's  acts?  Be  free, 
be  independent,  strike  down  social  responsibility,  and  the  superman 
will  rise  to  redeem  the  world. 

I  put  these  contrasts  strongly,  not  to  settle  the  merits  of  the 
political  recall,  but  to  make  clear  the  difference  between  political 
and  social  philosophy.  The  social  man  must  not  merely  say,  "  I  am 
right",  but  must  realize  that  each  decision  brings  with  it  a  series  of 
consequences  from  which  there  is  no  recall  and  for  which  he  is 
responsible.  He  must  seek  to  see  the  end  from  the  beginning  and 
think  in  terms,  not  of  antecedents,  but  of  consequences.  When 
political  programmes  get  into  this  form,  campaign  orators  will  have 
something  of  interest  for  social  workers,  but,  until  then,  let  them 
stick  to  their  own  tasks.  We  should  make  people  more  conscious  of 
their  responsibilities,  not  teach  them  to  "  recall "  those  they  now  admit. ' 

Nothing  is  more  common  than  the  false  notion  that 
changes  of  rulers  and  parties  can  radically  improve  the 
life  of  a  people.    These  changes  have  their  importance; 

'  In  the  Survey,  April  27,  1912,  p.  174. 


]y^ 


22  BARROWS  LECTURES 

but  the  best  things  of  existence  are  not  so  cheaply  pur- 
chased as  by  maicing  paper  constitutions,  delivering  orations, 
removing  kings  or  electing  presidents. 

7.  Reasons  for  constructing  and  maintaining  a  social 
policy  such  as  has  been  outlined. 

The  ground  is  universal  interest.  It  is  easy  to  show 
the  organic  relations  of  men  of  all  classes  in  the  matter  of 
diseases,  especially  contagious  diseases.  The  most  re- 
fined, cultivated  and  wealthy  must  breathe  the  common  air. 
Their  food  must  be  touched  by  unclean  hands.  The 
modern  microscope  has  revealed  the  world  of  the  "infinitely 
little"  and  compelled  us  to  understand  that  men  and  ani- 
mals may  communicate  to  each  other  dreadful  and  danger- 
ous maladies.  Every  neglected  hovel  or  dark  and  damp 
sleeping  room  may  become  the  center  of  a  plague  whose 
foul  breath  taints  the  atmosphere  and  may  invade  the 
royal  palace  or  the  private  office  of  the  millionaire. 
Diphtheria,  cholera,  scarlet  fever,  and  typhus  are  democratic; 
they  care  nothing  for  our  conventional  marks  of  rank. 
Sickness,  even  when  not  contagious,  diminishes  national 
wealth,  reduces  the  product  of  combined  labor  and  capi- 
tal, affects  the  revenues  of  municipalities,  princes,  and 
empires.  Vice,  crime,  pauperism  are  inevitably  burdens 
to  all  members  of  a  community.  Ignorance,  want  of  skill, 
vulgar  taste,  superstition  are  bad  neighbors.  Modern 
science,  both  physical  and  social,  has  made  this  organic 
relation  of  man  to  man  so  clear  that  it  cannot  be  doubted  by 
any  one  who  is  acquainted  with  the  evidence.  Therefore, 
morality  and  religion  in  the  Western  World  enforce  the 
obligation  to  promote  a  true  social  policy  which  includes 
in  its  benevolent  designs  all  classes  of  men  and  every 
variety  of  physical  and  spiritual  satisfaction  for  all. 

There  is  hope  for  men  of  all  races.  It  has  been  my 
pleasure  to  sit  at  the  hospitable  table  of  Dr.  Booker  T. 
Washington,  principal  and  founder  of  the  great  educational 


ECONOMIC  FACTS  AND  IDEALS  23 

institution  for  negroes  at  Tuskegee,  Alabama.  In  his  auto- 
biograpiiy,  Up  from  Slavery,  this  great  man  has  told  us 
how  a  poor  boy  of  a  depressed  race,  helped  by  friendly 
white  men,  rose  from  the  gutter  to  a  secure  position  of 
usefulness  and  honor;  how  he  won  the  confidence  of 
men  of  highest  ability  in  the  financial  world  and  was  ena- 
bled to  help  his  people  to  make  the  Emancipation  Procla- 
mation of  Abraham  Lincoln  a  reality.  What  one  negro 
has  done  points  the  way  for  all  others.  To  set  a  caldron 
of  water  to  boiling  we  must  kindle  the  flame  and  feed  the 
fuel  beneath,  not  on  top  of  the  vessel;  and  to  redeem  a 
continent  the  lowest  class  must  be  helped  to  live  a  human 
life.  As  Joseph  Mazzini,  modern  prophet  of  democracy, 
has  declared,  a  people  cannot  succeed  so  long  as  "the 
idea  of  a  caste  has  been  substituted  for  the  popular  idea 
of  the  emancipation  of  all  by  all."  Booker  T.  Washington 
has  seized  this  idea  and  begun  at  the  foundation,  the  con- 
quest of  economic  independence  by  knowledge  of  nature, 
and  by  improved  methods  and  skill  in  agriculture  and  the 
industrial  arts.  In  this  enriched  soil  he  plants  the  seeds 
of  idealism,  of  ambition,  art,  hope,  aspiration.  In  this  is 
no  scorn,  hatred,  or  revenge  for  past  wrongs,  for  "two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil",  but  an  indomi- 
table resolve  to  deserve  the  respect  of  mankind,  believing 
that  justice  will  be  done  at  last.  It  is  an  achievement  and 
a  life  morally  sublime.  "And  to  love  best  still  is  to  reign 
unsurpassed."  Jesus  taught  this  in  His  profound  words: 
"He  that  is  greatest  among  you  shall  be  servant  of  all". 
The  proud  world  thinks  of  the  man  who  owns  slaves  or 
drives  serfs  or  controls  wage-earners  as  greatest;  but  not 
so  the  Christ,  Lord  of  all,  who  "came  not  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  to  minister".  He  only  is  Christ-like  who  aids 
humanity  to  move  onward  and  upward. 

It  is  true  that  each  of  us  alone  is  feeble,  poor,  and 
powerless  to  achieve.    But  then  we  have  no  right  to  live 


24  BARROWS  LECTURES 

and  work  alone.  We  multiply  our  energies  by  combi- 
nation, by  institutions  to  which  multitudes  contribute. 
Selfishness  is  not  only  wicked,  but  weak  and  foolish. 
The  egotist  who  thinks  to  do  all  the  great  deeds  alone 
and  win  all  the  fame  of  it  by  his  own  right  hand,  is  soon 
deserted  and  dies  of  thirst  in  the  lonely  desert  which  he 
has  made  empty  about  him.  The  really  great  men,  like 
Gladstone,  Wilberforce,  Lincoln,  made  common  cause  with 
the  slave,  the  workman,  the  struggling  nation. 

With  deed,  and  word,  and  pen 
Thou  hast  served  thy  fellow  men; 
Therefore  art  thou  exalted. 

An  English  writer  of  world-wide  fame  has  given  ex- 
pression to  the  spirit  and  aim  of  all  recent  social  legislation : 

Man's  Unhappiness,  as  I  construe  it,  comes  of  his  Greatness; 
it  is  because  there  is  an  Infinite  in  him,  which  with  all  his  cunning 
he  cannot  quite  bury  under  the  Finite.  Will  the  whole  Finance 
Ministers  and  Upholsterers  and  Confectioners  of  modern  Europe 
undertake,  in  joint-stock  company,  to  make  one  shoeblack  happy? 
They  cannot  accomplish  it,  above  an  hour  or  two;  for  the  shoeblack 
also  has  a  Soul  quite  other  than  his  stomach.  .  .  .  The  Universe  is  not 
dead  and  demoniacal,  a  charnel-house  with  spectres;  but  godlike, 
and  my  Father's.    (Thomas  Carlyle,  Sartor  Resartus.) 

Religion  cannot  be  divorced  from  morality,  except  in 
the  abnormal  mind  of  the  hypocrite  or  the  criminal. 
A  shrewd  physician  writes: 

I  remember  one  old  woman  who  had  grown  gray  and  almost 
blind  after  a  long  course  of  vicious  and  criminal  conduct.  She  was 
eloquent  regarding  a  person  whom  she  described  as  being  "nae 
better  than  an  infidel ".  I  replied  that  at  least  he  had  kept  out  of 
prison,  and  she  replied,  "Aye;  but  though  I  have  been  a  drunkard, 
a  blackguard,  and  a  thief,  thank  God  I  never  neglected  my  religion."  i 

The  story  illustrates  the  working  of  a  mind  which  has 
lost  its  equilibrium  and  which  has  failed  through  vicious 

'  Dr.  James  Devon,  The  Criminal  and  the  Community,  p.  258. 

■4- 


ECONOMIC  FACTS  AND  IDEALS  25 

bias  to  seize  the  deep  and  true  relations  of  the  soul  to  the 
universe. 

Morality  itself  is  the  conduct  which,  on  the  whole, 
actually  tends  to  increase  the  well-being  of  all,  "Love 
is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law."  Religion  is  just  this  same 
principle  and  motive  of  life  raised  to  the  highest  degree, 
made  universal  beyond  the  bounds  of  sense,  and  earth, 
and  time,  and  mortality. 

Brotherhood  and  service  of  man  is  the  basis  of  modern 
public  morality. 

Long  as  thine  Art  shall  love  true  love.'^ 
Long  as  thy  Science  truth  shall  know 
Long  as  thine  Eagle  harms  no  Dove, 
Long  as  thy  Law  by  law  shall  gro'* 
Long  as  thy  God  is  God  above, 
Thy  brother  every  man  below, 
So  long,  dear  Land  of  all  my  love, 
Thy  name  shall  shine,  thy  fame  shall  glow ! 

There  can  be  no  unity,  harmony,  and  rationality  of 
life  unless  this  view  point  is  accepted  and  made  dominant 
in  individual  and  national  conduct. 

We  may,  therefore,  present  this  "Weltanschauung", 
this  view  of  nature  and  man,  in  several  aspects,  in  order 
to  understand  better  what  it  implies.  Our  world-view 
rests  on  a  conviction  that  life  is  worth  while,  is  good,  is 
reasonable.  We  cannot  be  ascetic,  nor  nihilistic,  with 
this  central  belief.  Life  of  body,  of  soul,  in  time  and 
eternity,  —  life  has  worth. 

'Tis  life,  whereof  our  nerves  are  scant,  ^ 
More  life,  and  fuller,  that  we  want. 

It  seems  to  have  been  the  view  of  the  ancient  Hebrew 
society  where  herds,  jewels,  harvests,  children,  and  long 
life  were  regarded  as  blessings.    In  the  teaching  of  Jesus 


\ 


'  Sidney  Lanier,  The  Centennial  Meditation  of  Columbia,  1776-1876, 


26  BARROWS  LECTURES 

this  view  is  spiritualized,  made  eternal.  "In  me  ye  have 
eternal  life  ....     I  came  that  ye  might  have  abundant  life." 

The  personality  of  a  human  being  for  the  Western 
World  is  the  commanding  interest.  Perhaps  the  mediaeval 
notion  of  "salvation  of  the  soul"  was  too  individualistic, 
too  other-worldly,  too  alien  to  present  duties  and  joys, 
too  pitiless  toward  dissent;  but,  at  least,  it  was  profoundly 
right  and  immensely  useful  in  emphasizing  the  worth  of 
the  inmost  and  downmost  man,  apart  from  external  trap- 
pings of  wealth  and  rank. 

Again,  this  ethico-spiritual,  socialized  notion  of  com- 
munity obligation  is  in  its  essence  vital,  germinal,  active, 
creative.  Here  is  a  creed  which  drives  a  whole  people 
to  energetic  and  co-operative  labor  for  common  ends. 
A  nation  of  hypocrites  is  already  paralyzed.  A  common 
life  must  realize  its  religion  or  confess  itself  a  sham. 

In  view  of  a  supreme  hour  of  crisis  in  our  American 
history,  one  of  our  most  capable  poets  and  interpreters 
told  us  what  was  the  meaning  of  the  Civil  War,  in  which 
our  great  President  Abraham  Lincoln  led  us  forward,  and 
what  is  the  true  glory  of  our  nation: 

'   She  that  lifts  up  the  manhood  of  the  poor, 
She  of  the  open  soul  and  open  door, 
With  room  about  her  hearth  for  all  mankind, 
She  calls  her  children  back,  and  waits  the  morn 
Of  nobler  day,  enthroned  between  her  subject  seas. 

Thus  far  we  have  spoken  in  very  general  terms  of  our 
Western  motives,  principles,  and  social  movements.  Hence- 
forth we  must  come  closer  to  the  concrete  practice  in  which 
these  principles  are  found  embodied  and  expressed. 

But  before  we  go  further,  honesty  compels  me  to  make 
for  myself  and  my  country,  and  for  all  the  Western  World, 
a  frank  confession,  so  far  as  one  has  a  right  to  confess 
the  fault  and  sin  of  others  with  his  own.  I  have  spoken 
of  our  ideals;  I  do  not  mean  to  claim  that  these  ideals 


ECONOMIC  FACTS  AND  IDEALS  27 

have  as  yet  come  into  full  control  of  all  our  citizenship 
and  all  our  public  institutions  and  conduct.  Alas!  far 
from  it.  The  presentation  which  I  shall  make,  taken 
together  with  those  to  which  in  bibliography  I  shall  refer 
for  further  studies,  will  make  it  clear  that  we  have  yet  a 
long  and  difficult  journey  to  travel  before  we  attain  our 
goal.  One  can  see  a  great  mountain  many  days  before 
he  can  reach  its  base  on  the  plain  and  climb  to  its  summits. 
Those  of  us  who  are  most  directly  and  constantly  active 
in  making  these  social  policies  effective,  are  precisely  those 
who  know  best  what  indifference,  ignorance,  apathy,  and 
even  organized  hostility  we  have  to  meet  and  overcome. 
Selfishness  is  a  dreadful  power  and  by  no  means  inert. 
Private  interests  frequently  blind  the  eyes,  even  of  intelli- 
gent and  upright  men,  to  the  sufferings  and  needs  and 
rights  of  the  poor.  I  have  not  come  across  the  ocean  to 
represent  my  beloved  nation  as  in  all  respects  a  model; 
that  my  countrymen  do  not  expect  of  me,  and  you  know 
too  much  of  us  to  make  deception  possible,  —  even  if  de- 
ception were  in  my  purpose. 

But  our  ideals  are  not  mere  dreams,  theories,  preten- 
sion, and  unrealized  aims:  they  are  already  powerful  forces, 
actually  at  work,  and  have  to  show  for  themselves  mighty 
achievements  which  fill  our  souls  with  hope  for  our  own 
brighter  future  and  open  up  vistas  for  all  mankind  for  our 
brothers  and  sisters  of  other  continents.  Things  once 
deemed  impossible,  have,  by  science  and  concerted  will, 
been  accomplished.  The  tables  of  statistics  show  tenden- 
cies, not  laws  of  fate.  Present  conditions  may  be  the 
inheritance  of  ten  thousand  years  of  ignorance  and  neglect; 
but  in  one  generation  the  spell  of  traditional  fear  is  broken 
and  we  read  of  past  misery  as  only  a  bad  dream  of  our 
ancestors. 

Let  us  then  select  facts  which  illustrate  certain  ten- 
dencies of  thought  and  action  in  the  Western  World  and 


28  BARROWS  LECTURES 

permit  these  realities  to  speak  for  themselves;  speak  in 
self-rebuke  where  we  have  failed,  speak  for  our  aspiration, 
our  striving,  our  self-devotion,  so  far  as  this  is  their  true 
meaning. 

The  Kingdom  of  God  is  in  Humanity.  Mrs.  E.  B. 
Browning,  in  Italy  and  the  World,  sings  of  the  universal 
fatherland  of  the  human  race: 

No  more  Jew  or  Greek  then — taunting 
Nor  taunted;  no  more  England  or  France; 
But  one  confederate  brotherhood,  planting 
One  Flag  only,  to  mark  the  advance, 
Onward  and  upward,  of  all  humanity. 


For  fully  developed  Christianity 
Is  civilization  perfected. 
And  to  love  best  shall  still  be  to  reign  unsurpassed. 


Friendship  is  started  in  the  nursery  of  particular  small 
groups,  as  the  family  and  the  neighborhood.  There  the 
roots  develop  power  of  assimilation,  before  the  tender  shoot 
can  bear  transplanting  into  a  larger  space  and  grow  alone. 
Some  vegetables  require  a  hot-house  for  their  first  attempts 
at  living,  before  the  frost  is  out  of  air  and  soil.  That  form 
of  friendship  we  call  patriotism  is  connected  with  a  re- 
stricted region  and  its  natural  features.  The  Scotchman 
loves  the  purple  heather  of  his  rugged  and  craggy  mountains. 
The  Hollanders  dream  of  slow  moving  canals,  and  wind- 
mills. The  Swiss  carry  afar  pictures  of  lofty  Mont  Blanc 
and  the  eternal  snows  of  the  Jungfrau.    And  we  Americans 

sing: 

I  love  her  rocks  and  rills, 
Her  woods  and  templed  hills. 

Nor  should  we  ever  forget  these  little  groups  and  these 
special  regions.  He  who  does  not  love  and  revere  his 
own  parents  is  a  poor  citizen;  and  the  renegade  or  traitor 
to  his  own  country  is  not  an  honorable  cosmopolite.    But 


ECONOMIC  FACTS  AND  IDEALS  29 

there  is  growing  up  a  larger  sentiment  of  humanity  which 
refuses  to  find  in  the  stranger  a  natural  enemy,  and  to  re- 
gard competition  and  suspicion  between  nations  as  any- 
thing more  than  a  proof  of  narrowness  to  be  outgrown  as 
rapidly  as  possible. 

This  is  Christianity, — universal  friendship,  the  genuine 
belief  that  all  spirits  have  their  heredity  from  the  Supreme 
Father  of  all,  Lord  of  life.  Ruler  of  sky,  plain,  and  the  vast 
unseen  beyond  our  horizon.  Up  to  this  time  political 
consolidation  of  peoples  has  come  by  wars  of  conquest; 
nations  have  been  welded  together  by  force  and  arms. 
And  even  this  form  of  federation  has  been  useful,  helpful 
to  progress.  Rome  conquered  a  world  and  established 
order  and  peace.  But  it  is  high  time  we  should  consciously 
organize  a  spiritual  policy  for  all  the  peoples,  a  policy  in 
which  love  shall  be  the  master  force. 


LECTURE  TWO 

PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE  RELIEF  OF  DEPENDENTS 

AND  ABNORMALS 

It  was  in  charitable  relief  that  social  policies  first 
struck  root.  So  we  begin  with  charity  to  the  feeble.  The 
incompetent  and  the  useless  are  the  severest  test  of  our 
belief  in  the  value  of  personality;  they  are  the  most  strik- 
ing proof  of  the  weakness  of  an  economic  system  and  of 
laws  and  customs.  The  criminal  is  stronger,  more  positive 
than  the  pauper  and  weakling;  and  dangerous  as  he  is, 
he  may  be  trained  to  be  useful,  even  if  under  compulsion. 
But  the  insane,  the  cripple,  the  deformed,  the  imbecile,  the 
low  grade  idiot,  the  demented,  —  would  it  not  be  better  to 
let  these  perish?  Would  they  not  suffer  less?  Would 
the  world  not  be  better  without  them? 

In  spite  of  such  questionings,  with  one  consent,  all 
the  nations  of  the  West  are  rapidly  investing  millions  of 
money  in  costly  institutions  for  the  relief  of  members  of 
these  classes.  In  many  of  the  states  of  the  American 
Union  the  principal  item  in  the  budget  and  the  chief 
business  of  administration  are  determined  by  the  needs 
of  the  dependent  wards  of  the  commonwealth  in  hospitals, 
refuges,  schools,  prisons.  A  multitude  of  capable  and 
high-minded  men  and  women  are  devoting  their  lives  to 
companionship  with  those  who  are  wretched  and  even 
dangerous  company.     Why? 

Our  answer  is:  life  is  precious;  personality  is  sacred; 
in  the  most  despicable  and  incapable  soul,  imprisoned  in 
the  most  ruinous  body,  is  a  spirit  akin  to  God's;  and  we 
cannot  neglect  these  souls  without  self-degradation,  re- 
morse, shame;  without  losing  something  of  the  finest  fruits 
of  age-long  culture. 


RELIEF  OF  DEPENDENTS  AND  ABNORMALS  31 

We  have  been  advised  to  chloroform  these  poor  fellow 
human  beings.  We  know  how  it  could  be  done.  Science 
would  make  it  painless.  It  would  save  so  much  money 
for  schools,  art,  science,  comfort,  elegance,  luxury!  Why 
not?  We  do  not.  We  cannot.  The  "moral  imperative" 
restrains  us;  our  "benevolent  despot,"  which  we  call  con- 
science, forbids;  —  that  is  all;  but  it  is  enough  to  stay  the 
hand  of  death. 

Our  ancestors,  just  emerging  from  barbarism,  had  no 
such  scruples.  Ancient  and  pre-Christian  Greece,  Rome, 
and  Germany  exposed  the  feeble  and  deformed  infants 
and  toothless  old  people  to  death  with  scarcely  a  pang  of 
pity  or  remorse.  Not  that  they  were  totally  devoid  of 
sympathy  and  affection ;  but  the  fierce  struggle  for  existence, 
constant  warfare,  and  the  necessity  of  hoarding  all  the 
resources  of  the  group  had  fixed  in  instinct  and  tradition 
the  demand  to  be  rid  of  burdens  and  parasites.  There 
was  no  surplus  for  non-producers ;  everything  was  needed 
for  the  sound  and  capable. 

We  also  have  in  all  countries  of  the  West  societies 
for  the  protection  of  dumb  animals  and  for  the  cultivation 
of  humane  sentiments  of  mercy  for  our  humbler  fellow- 
creatures, — dogs,  cats,  birds,  horses.  In  the  streets  may 
be  seen  drinking  fountains  for  animals.  In  city-parks 
pretty  tame  squirrels  run  unafraid  and  unharmed,  feeding 
out  of  the  hands  of  those  who  rest  on  the  benches;  and 
boxes  are  placed  in  trees  for  nesting  places  of  birds.  The 
decalogue  of  the  Jews,  inherited  by  Christians  as  part  of 
their  moral  law,  commands  that  domestic  animals  share 
with  men  the  privileges  of  the  holy  day  of  rest.  Our  laws 
protect  not  only  the  workman  in  mine  and  mill,  but  also 
the  beast  of  burden  from  needless  pain.  Our  children  in 
family,  school,  and  church  are  taught  gentleness  and  kind- 
ness. We  have  colleges  of  veterinary  medicine  where 
men  are  trained  and  taught  to  apply  the  wisdom  of  the 


32  BARROWS  LECTURES 

healing  art  to  cure  the  diseases  and  mitigate  sufferings 
of  the  lower  creatures.  St.  Francis,  founder  of  a  great 
benevolent  order,  called  himself  brother  of  birds  and 
seemed  to  understand  their  songs;  and  his  biography 
and  writings  are  the  inspiration  of  multitudes  of  kindly 
souls. 

Since  suppression  of  humane  impulses  is  impossible, 
nothing  remains  for  us  but  to  seek  a  scientific  method, 
based  on  experience. 

"What  we  now  see  to  be  required  is  not  the  repression 
of  the  instincts  of  benevolence,  but  their  organization.  To 
make  benevolence  scientific  is  the  great  problem  of  the 
present  age.  Men  formerly  thought  that  the  simple  direct 
action  of  the  benevolent  instincts  by  means  of  self-denying 
gifts  was  enough  to  remedy  the  misery  they  deplored; 
now  we  see  that  not  only  thought,  but  historical  study  is 
also  necessary."  * 

I.  Subnormal  and  dependent  members  of  society  have 
always  existed.  I  do  not  speak  here  specially  of  infants 
and  the  aged.  Infancy  is  normally  dependent.  The  aged 
are  helpless,  because  strength  has  diminished  below  the 
measure  necessary  to  self-support,  and  they  have  earned 
their  leisure,  quiet,  and  comfort  in  old  age,  and  should  not 
be  obliged  to  beg.  In  addition  to  these  are  the  numerous 
cases  of  the  feeble-minded,  the  insane,  the  sick,  the  crip- 
pled who  are  physically  and  mentally  unable  to  support 
themselves.  Weakness  is  inherited  or  induced  by  hunger, 
misery,  disease,  accident,  catastrophe,  neglect,  ignorance, 
and  other  causes. 

In  some  ages  and  countries  mendicancy  assumes  the 
garb  and  claim  of  religion  and  is  regarded  as  specially 
holy,  as  in  the  case  of  the  mediaeval  begging  friars  of 
Europe. 

'  Arnold  Toynbee,  The  Industrial  Revolution,  p.  94. 


RELIEF  OF  DEPENDENTS  AND  ABNORMALS  33 

II.  Sympathy  and  pity  are  very  ancient  and  general 
feelings.  They  are  found  even  among  the  higher  animals. 
The  evolutionists  have  taught  us  the  explanation.  Care 
for  the  weak,  especially  for  infants,  being  necessary  for 
survival  of  the  race  or  tribe,  this  instinct  has  been  produced, 
and  those  who  did  not  develop  group-sympathy  tended 
to  disappear.  Among  most  peoples  some  manifestations 
of  compassion  have  been  revealed  and  honored.  Regarded 
as  virtue,  this  human  pity  has  received  also  the  sanction 
of  religion. 

Christianity  enlarged  the  scope  of  human  sympathy, 
made  it  spiritual,  broke  down  barriers  of  race  and  class, 
and  announced  with  the  conviction  of  faith  and  the  authority 
of  the  divine  word,  that  all  men  are  brothers  and  have 
claims  to  love  and  care  in  times  of  need. 

The  methods  of  charity  in  Christendom  have  passed 
through  three  great  stages  of  evolution: 

1.  Up  to  the  reign  of  Constantine,  during  the  times 
of  persecution  by  the  Roman  Emperors,  the  charity  of 
the  Church  was  congregational  and  was  administered  by 
the  officers  of  each  local  Church,  the  bishops  and  dea- 
cons. The  funds  were  collected  at  the  services  of  wor- 
ship and  sacraments,  or  from  regular  dues  paid  in  for  the 
common  benefit,  or  from  extraordinary  gifts  of  the  pros- 
perous. 

2.  The  second  period  extends  from  312  A.D.  to  the 
Reformation  (1517).  During  the  mediaeval  times  the  Church 
was  supported  by  the  political  rulers,  was  enriched  by  its 
own  votaries,  organized  monastic  orders,  endowed  hospi- 
tals for  strangers,  wanderers,  and  sick  folk,  and  trans- 
formed the  barbarians  of  the  North  into  modern  civilized 
nations,  giving  them  language,  freedom,  laws.  Property 
devoted  to  endowments  for  relief  of  the  poor  in  those 
ages  still  yields  revenue  for  the  solace  of  misery  in  our 
times. 

3 


34  BARROWS  LECTURES 

Longfellow's  picture  of  the  almoner  of  the  convent,  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  is  typical ;  for  crowds  of  beggars  haunted 
monastic  gates  all  over  Europe : 

At  the  gate  the  poor  were  waiting 
Looking  through  the  iron  grating, 
With  that  terror  in  the  eye 
Which  is  only  seen  in  those 
Who  amid  their  wants  and  woes 
Hear  the  sound  of  gates  that  close 
And  of  feet  that  pass  them  by ; 
Grown  familiar  with  disfavor, 
Grown  familiar  with  the  flavor 
Of  the  bread  by  which  men  die. 

3.  The  period  since  the  sixteenth  century  is  character- 
ized by  the  gradual  acceptance  by  governments  of  the  ob- 
ligation of  relieving  extreme  distress  and  guaranteeing  at 
least  the  necessities  of  existence  to  all  indigent  citizens. 
That  which  the  Church,  by  word  and  deed,  had  long  taught 
to  be  a  universal  duty,  the  modern  states  of  northern 
Europe  and  America  have  enacted  into  poor-laws.  The 
chief  reasons  for  this  change  have  been:  the  necessity  of 
repressing  mendicancy,  for  which  task  the  Church  had  not 
the  authority  or  control  of  force;  the  conviction  that  only 
by  a  poor-tax,  levied  by  law,  could  the  burden  of  support 
be  equitably  distributed  over  all  who  enjoyed  a  surplus 
income;  and  only  then  could  the  State  assure  itself  that 
every  citizen  had  enough  to  sustain  life.  In  the  case  of 
the  insane  and  other  abnormals,  where  restraint  of  liberty 
by  legal  process  was  necessary,  it  was  obviously  impossible 
to  give  this  power  to  any  private  association  like  the 
Church. 

One  fact  relating  to  European  history  requires  to  be 
explained  in  the  Orient.  One  of  the  consequences  of  the  in- 
dustrial revolution  already  described  was  the  breaking  up 
of  servile  domestic,  neighborhood,  and  customary  bonds. 
Where  there  is  great  mobility  of  population,  where  manu- 


i 


RELIEF  OF  DEPENDENTS  AND  ABNORMALS  35 

factures  are  carried  on  for  a  world  market,  where  the  de- 
mand for  laborers  shifts  frequently  and  suddenly  from  city 
to  city,  from  nation  to  nation,  a  vast  multitude  of  laborers 
are  cut  off  from  their  homes,  relatives,  and  neighbors,  and 
are  exposed  to  extreme  destitution  among  strangers.  For 
these  reasons  we  can  no  longer  depend  wholly  on  custom 
and  family  for  relief,  and  we  must  have  a  system  which 
is  at  least  wide  as  the  nation,  must  include  all  citizens, 
and  must  even  provide  by  treaties  for  migrants  between 
continents.  This  is  for  every  country  which  has  developed 
the  great  industry,  inevitable,  and  it  must  be  provided  for. 

But  this  development  of  State  relief  and  control  even 
of  private  charity  has  not  diminished  the  fervor  and  the 
devotion  of  private  and  ecclesiastical  philanthropy.  Not 
only  have  the  ancient  foundations,  in  great  part,  been  re- 
spected and  conserved,  but  vastly  greater  monuments  of 
personal  beneficence  have  been  buih.  The  sums  devoted 
to  the  erection  of  hospitals,  asylums,  institutions  for  child- 
ren and  old  people  by  citizens  of  the  West  are  colossal. 

The  fundamental  principles  which  regulate  relief  are 
the  same  for  private  as  for  public  charity;  the  differences 
relate  chiefly  to  the  method  of  raising  money,  of  adminis- 
tration, and  of  particular  expenditure. 

Why  is  private  charity  desirable,  when  a  poor-law 
is  well  established  and  has  a  full  system  of  institutions? 

1.  Private  charity  can  help  special  cases  in  the  most 
suitable  way.  Poor-law,  like  other  laws,  must  be  impartial, 
must  work  by  general  rules,  must  be  somewhat  military 
in  its  procedure  and  discipline.  Private  and  personal  be- 
neficence can  furnish  luxuries  to  tempt  the  appetite  of  a 
patient  or  convalescent,  can  provide  crutches,  artificial  limbs 
or  eyes,  neat  dress,  and,  above  all,  personal  friendship  and 
counsel. 

2,  Private  charity  can  try  experiments  to  discover 
better  methods  and  to  demonstrate  their  efficiency  by  trial 


36  BARROWS  LECTURES 

on  a  small  scale,  before  it  would  be  wise  to  commit  the 
commonwealth  to  a  novel  and  untried  scheme. 
^  Private  charity  has,  almost  always,  gone  forward  in 
advance  of  public  agencies.  Formerly  in  England  and 
elsewhere  the  making  of  paths,  roads,  and  bridges  was  a 
pious  work;  free  schools  for  the  poor  were  long  supported 
by  individual  gifts;  hospitals  were  endowed  by  rich  men; 
the  insane  were  cared  for  by  devoted  brotherhoods. 

3.  Even  after  the  State  has  assumed  the  burden,  private 
charity  is  needed  to  watch  the  administration  and  pro- 
tect against  harsh  routine,  mechanical  formality,  and  gross 
abuses. 

4.  Public  relief,  even  in  States  where  no  civic  honors 
are  lost  by  receipt  of  it,  necessarily  humiliates  those  who 
are  not  yet  accustomed  to  receive  it.  They  are  known  as 
"paupers"  and  refined  dependents  are  compelled  to  associ- 
ate in  public  institutions  with  other  indigent  persons  who 
are  coarse,  besotted,  and  sometimes  vicious  and  criminal. 
This  is  especially  deplorable  when  innocent  children  are 
involved.  If  quiet  help  can  be  given,  without  attracting 
attention  of  neighbors  and  without  the  disgrace  of  a  public 
record  as  pauper,  the  broken-down  and  discouraged  parent 
may  rally,  and  the  world  at  large  never  know  how  low  they 
had  come.    Often  the  money  is  repaid  and  treated  as  a  loan. 

III.  Relief  of  needy  families  in  their  homes, — public 
and  private.  The  primary  social  group  is  that  of  parents 
and  children  in  the  family.  The  normal  and  ordinary 
family  finds  in  the  useful  industry  of  its  members  the 
means  of  self-support,  and  all  the  property  and  income 
are  the  common  possession  of  the  group.  The  dependent 
family  is  exceptional  and  its  situation  is  irregular  and 
abnormal. 

In  the  moral  beliefs,  traditions,  and  laws  of  the  Western 
countries  the  members  of  each  family  are  first  of  all  re 


RELIEF  OF  DEPENDENTS  AND  ABNOPMALS  37 

sponsible  for  any  dependent  individual,  and  somewhat  in 
this  order:  parents  are  required  to  maintain,  protect,  and 
educate  their  own  children;  grandparents  are  usually  ex- 
pected to  assist  dependent  grandchildren;  children,  when 
they  have  means,  are  required  to  assist  their  aged  parents 
and  even  grandparents,  before  relief  is  sought  from  the 
community.  As  a  general  rule,  this  moral  tradition  is  ob- 
served without  any  legal  compulsion;  a  good  man  or 
woman  will  not  ask  alms,  until  their  own  resources  are 
exhausted,  and  rich  relatives  are  ashamed  to  see  any  of 
their  kin  go  begging  in  public;  it  is  regarded  as  a  dis- 
grace. 

But  in  a  certain  percentage  of  families  in  all  countries, 
from  many  causes,  the  earning  power  and  income  of  the 
members  of  the  domestic  group  are  not  sufficient  to 
maintain  life;  and  then  either  public  or  private  charity 
must  come  to  help,  or  there  will  be  extreme  suffering  and 
even  death  from  starvation. 

The  mutual  help  of  the  poor  among  themselves  is  a 
great  factor  in  relief.  Of  the  myriads  of  acts  of  kindness 
and  humanity  among  those  who  are  themselves  even  on 
the  brink  of  trouble  and  destitution,  there  is  no  public 
record.  Millions  of  philanthropists  live  unheralded  and 
rest  in  nameless  graves. 

Full  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blush  unseen, 
And  waste  its  fragrance  on  the  desert  air; 
Full  many  a  gem,  of  purest  ray  serene, 
The  dark  unfathomed  depths  of  ocean  bear. 

Matthew  Arnold  (West  London)  shows  how  the  poor 
help  each  other,  yet  never  appear  on  the  list  of  society's 
"philanthropists".  The  story  pictures  a  return  to  the 
primitive  elementary  feelings  of  sympathy,  of  kinship  of 
minds,  of  race  solidarity  out  of  which  all  great  movements 
for  a  noble  life  spring. 


!:154S5 


38  BARROWS  LECTURES 

Crouch'd  on  the  pavement,  close  by  Belgrave  Square, 

A  tramp  I  saw,  ill,  moody,  and  tongue-tied. 

A  babe  was  in  her  arms,  and  at  her  side 

A  girl;  their  clothes  were  rags,  their  feet  were  bare. 

Some  laboring  men,  whose  work  lay  somewhere  there, 
Pass'd  opposite;  she  touch'd  her  girl,  who  hied 
Across  and  begg'd  and  came  back  satisfied. 
The  rich  she  had  let  pass  with  frozen  stare. 
Thought  I:  "Above  her  state  this  spirit  towers; 
She  will  not  ask  of  aliens,  but  of  friends, 
Of  sharers  in  a  common  human  fate. 

She  turns  from  that  cold  succor  which  attends 
The  unknown  little  from  the  unknovv'ing  great, 
And  points  us  to  a  better  time  than  ours." 

In  the  crowded  tenement  houses  of  our  huge  and  con- 
gested cities  this  unfailing  fountain  of  kindness  flows  for 
neighbors  in  distress. 

The  primary  task  of  modern  scientific  charity  is  to 
maintain  the  integrity,  character,  and  wholesome  energy 
of  the  domestic  group,  so  long  as  possible.  We  may 
illustrate  the  best  procedure  of  both  public  and  private 
relief  by  indicating  what  can  be  done  under  the  most  ad- 
vanced systems  of  relief  in  certain  typical  situations. 

1.  The  prolonged  illness  of  the  breadwinners, — 
father,  or  mother,  or  both.  The  wage-earner's  income  and 
credit  are  soon  exhausted  when  the  breadwinner  can  no 
longer  present  himself  in  the  place  of  employment.  In  this 
case  a  careful  study  is  made  of  the  home  involved  in  mis- 
fortune; the  responsible  relatives  are  sought,  if  any  exist; 
new  resources  may  be  discovered  in  the  earning  power  of 
older  children;  and  meantime  the  necessities  of  existence 
are  supplied,  medical  skill,  medicines,  and  nurses  or  hospital 
care  are  furnished,  the  invalid  is  cheered  with  hope  and 
friendliness  of  word  and  deed,  and  nothing  is  neglected 
which  gives  promise  of  restoring  the  patient  to  health 
and  work. 


RELIEF  OF  DEPENDENTS  AND  ABNORMALS  39 

2.  Unfortunately  we  encounter  only  too  many  cases 
where  the  father  or  the  mother  bring  the  home  to  misery 
by  moral  fault  or  even  crime,  as  drunkenness,  cruelty, 
neglect  to  provide,  desertion,  and  all  these  culminating  in 
quarrels,  conflicts,  and  divorce.  Here  the  innocent  suffer 
from  the  deeds  of  the  guilty,  and  persuasion  often  fails  to 
bring  the  offender  back  to  his  duty. 

Then  the  agents  of  relief  must  invoke  the  intervention 
of  the  police  and  the  courts  to  coerce  the  negligent,  while 
the  innocent  sufferers  are  relieved  by  charity.  Even  here 
nothing  is  left  undone  which  gives  hope  of  restoring  the 
broken  and  discouraged  family  to  its  integrity  and  happi- 
ness ;  and  often  the  depraved  and  drunken  father  is  brought 
to  a  sense  of  his  duty  by  firm  discipline  and  personal 
persuasion. 

3.  Another  type  of  misfortune  is  that  of  the  family 
reduced  to  destitution  by  the  death  of  the  breadwinner, 
usually  the  father.  From  time  immemorial  the  widow  and 
the  fatherless  have  made  their  appeal  to  the  pity  and  help- 
fulness of  the  strong  and  prosperous. 

The  problem  does  not  change  its  nature;  it  is  still 
that  of  keeping  the  family  intact.  The  home  is  the  best 
shelter  and  nest  for  the  birdlings;  the  good  mother  is  the 
best  nurse,  guide,  and  counsellor  of  her  young.  Under  the 
most  advanced  and  progressive  systems  the  community 
now  refuses  to  incarcerate  the  children  in  institutions;  it 
pays  the  mother  a  pension,  either  out  of  a  charity  fund  or 
from  a  legal  source,  to  remain  at  home,  keep  house,  watch 
over  the  little  ones,  mend  their  clothing,  and  send  them  in 
decent,  clean  garments  to  school.  Poverty  and  widowhood 
do  not  release  the  mother  from  the  moral  obligation  and 
the  maternal  yearning  to  keep  her  offspring  near  her;  and 
charity  comes  to  her  help  and  makes  the  performance  of 
her  duty  possible,  and  keeps  her  heart  from  breaking  at 
enforced  separation  from  her  children. 


40  BARROWS  LECTURES 

4.  Fourth  type,  where  the  integrity  of  the  family  is 
threatened  by  enforced  unemployment. 

Up  to  this  time,  in  spite  of  much  study  and  many 
experiments,  in  all  industrial  countries,  at  all  times,  and 
especially  in  times  of  business  depression,  millions  of  men 
willing,  strong,  and  eager  to  work,  are  either  unemployed 
for  long  periods  or  are  chronically  under-employed,  so  that 
they  cannot  earn  enough  to  support  their  families.  The 
causes  of  this  situation  are  numerous,  complicated,  and 
obscure,  and  all  efforts  to  reduce  them  have  thus  far  in 
great  measure  failed. 

Meantime,  while  men  are  investigating  causes  and 
experimenting  with  improvements,  there  is  destitution  in 
many  humble  homes,  and  that  without  the  industrial  fault 
of  the  breadwinners.  The  family  income  is  frequently 
exhausted,  and  misery,  hunger,  cold,  sickness,  weakness, 
inability  to  work  are  consequences.  In  these  crises  of 
the  domestic  group,  neighbor  must  help  neighbor,  and 
neighbor  love  is  a  bank  which  honors  the  drafts  of  pover- 
ty and  misfortune. 

Danger  of  pauperization.  But  will  not  the  gift  of  un- 
earned income  pauperize  the  spirit  of  the  beneficiaries? 
Will  not  the  father  become  shiftless?  Will  not  the  children 
grow  up  with  the  feeling  that  they  will  be  supported, 
whether  they  work  or  not?  Doubtless  there  is  danger  at 
this  point;  without  question  charity  has  frequently  been 
so  administered  in  the  past  that  it  actually  increased  the 
number  of  the  miserable  and  the  quantity  of  suffering. 

Warned  by  these  very  real  dangers  modern  scientific 
philanthropy  has  sought  to  establish  certain  standards  and 
principles  of  relief,  the  observance  of  which  would  reduce 
these  evils  to  a  minimum;  which  would  make  it  possible 
to  exercise  compassion,  save  life,  avert  ruin,  and  yet  not 
encourage  people  to  settle  down  into  a  parasitic  existence 
and  give  up  the  struggle  for  self-support.    The  following 


RELIEF  OF  DEPENDENTS  AND  ABNORMALS  41 

conditions  of  giving  relief  are  stated  by  Dr.  E.  T.  Devine 
(in  his  Principles  of  Relief): 

1.  Thorough  knowledge  of  the  family  and  all  its 
surroundings. 

2.  Co-operation  with  repressive  authorities  to  place 
law-breakers  under  the  discipline  of  the  criminal  law,  as 
wife-beaters,  men  who  abandon  their  wives  and  children 
or  neglect  their  support,  —  vagabonds. 

3.  Adequate  and  suitable  relief  to  the  beneficiaries, 
until  they  are  capable  of  self-support  or  are  so  maintained 
that  they  are  not  driven  to  mendicancy. 

4.  Firm  and  persistent  refusal  to  give  relief  to  those 
who  might  work  and  continue  to  beg  in  spite  of  warnings. 

If  these  conditions  are  observed  by  all  who  give 
charity,  then  material  relief  can  be  given  without  serious 
damage  to  the  character  and  prospects  of  indigent  persons. 

The  need  of  co-operation  of  agencies  of  relief  It 
has  long  been  evident  to  the  wisest  and  most  enlightened 
administrators  of  charity  that  these  principles  of  relief  can 
be  carried  out  effectively  only  when  all  the  agencies  of 
relief,  public  and  private,  agree  upon  them  and  act  in 
concert. 

1.  There  must  be  co-operation  to  maintain,  at  some 
central  point  in  each  city,  a  complete  record  of  all  infor- 
mation about  the  poor  and  needy.  It  is  impossible  for  any 
one  benevolent  person  or  society  to  know  all  that  is  re- 
quired, all  the  destitute,  and  all  the  available  resources  for 
their  aid,  without  establishing  and  maintaining  a  central 
bureau  of  records  accessible  to  all. 

2.  There  must  be  a  common  agreement  among  the 
administrators  of  charity  in  remanding  a  law-breaking  de- 
pendent to  the  repressive  and  correctional  branch  of  govern- 
ment; if  there  is  dissension,  or  if  some  continue  to  give 
relief,  the  offender  fails  to  receive  his  needed  and  whole- 
some discipline,  and  the  treatment  fails. 


42  BARROWS  LECTURES 

3.  Without  co-operation,  through  a  central  office,  ade- 
quate relief  cannot  be  supplied.  In  all  our  cities  there  are 
various  forms  of  relief  for  the  various  kinds  of  distress, — 
day  nurseries,  visiting  physicians  and  nurses,  dispensaries, 
clothing  supplies,  employment  bureaus,  coal  funds,  hospi- 
tals, relief  for  special  needs;  and  no  one  of  these  alone 
can  minister  to  all  the  forms  of  distress  found  in  a  desti- 
tute family.  If  each  society  is  informed  of  the  nature  and 
extent  of  the  requirements,  abundant  help  may  be  supplied; 
otherwise  there  will  be  failure  and  suffering. 

4.  Without  understanding  and  agreement  among  all 
who  give  relief  it  is  impossible  to  starve  the  rebellious  into 
submission.  For  example,  so  long  as  a  beggar  at  a  street 
corner  can  collect  double  a  laborer's  wages  by  simply 
holding  out  his  cup  for  alms,  he  cannot  be  persuaded  to 
work  at  an  honest  calling  which  is  offered  him.  Those 
who  dole  out  relief  without  knowledge  or  regard  for  others, 
help  to  train  beggars  and  paupers.  The  Apostle  Paul  laid 
down  the  rule  in  the  primitive  Christian  Church,  for  the 
guidance  of  the  bishops  and  deacons:  "If  a  man  will  not 
work,  neither  shall  he  eat".  But  if  some  sentimentalist 
refuses  to  accept  this  maxim  and  continues  individually  to 
give  the  shirk  loaves  of  bread,  the  apostle's  law  will  that 
far  be  defeated. 

The  Charity  Organization  Society  movement.  This 
social  movement  for  organizing  relief  in  cities  is  charac- 
teristic of  private  charity  in  Great  Britain  and  America. 
Since  about  1870  it  has  made  itself  felt  in  English-speaking 
lands  and  has  profoundly  modified  the  methods  of  phil- 
anthropy. Its  principles  have  been  adopted  by  certain 
private  societies  on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  as  in  Paris, 
Geneva,  and  elsewhere.  The  ambition  and  ideal  of  the 
supporters  of  the  "C.  O.  S."  is  to  establish  in  every  city 
and  between  cities  a  central  office  for  promoting  a  prompt, 
sympathetic,   adequate,  and  economical  administration  of 


RELIEF  OF  DEPENDENTS  AND  ABNORMALS  43 

relief.  Nowhere  is  this  ideal  realized;  everywhere  there 
are  groups  of  persons  who  have  a  vision  of  the  purpose 
and  heartily  work  together  to  promote  it. 

In  interpreting  the  policy  of  the  C.  O.  S.  movement,  we 
may  glance  at  the  following  steps  in  the  procedure: 

1.  The  organization  itself,  (a)  This  is  a  voluntary 
association  of  benevolent  persons  representing  all  trades, 
callings,  creeds,  and  races  of  the  community,  and  therefore 
combining  many  forms  of  natural  ability,  life  experience, 
bodies  of  expert  knowledge,  and  acquaintance  with  local 
and  national  conditions,  (b)  The  association  elects  di- 
rectors who  supervise  the  administration  and  give  the 
public  assurance  that  its  policy  is  vigorously  and  effectively 
carried  out,  (c)  There  are  salaried  trained  professional 
officers  and  employes  who  give  their  undivided  attention 
to  the  work  in  office  and  field,  and  who  report  to  the  di- 
rectors, (d)  So  far  as  possible  voluntary  and  unsalaried 
visitors  among  the  poor  are  invited  to  aid  the  trained 
agents,  in  order  to  multiply  the  number  of  those  who  sympa- 
thetically and  tactfully  observe  the  difficulties  and  struggles 
of  the  poor  at  first  hand,  give  them  assurance  of  friendship 
by  word  and  deed,  and  return  to  the  circles  of  comfort 
and  luxury  with  pictures  of  trouble  which  quicken  the  social 
conscience  and  compel  attention  to  wrongs,  abuses,  and 
sufferings.  This  activity  of  the  voluntary  visitors  and  un- 
paid committees  is  a  vital  element  in  the  programme. 

2.  The  association,  through  its  paid  and  unpaid  agents, 
seeks  to  discover  the  destitute.  No  direct  census  of  the 
indigent  in  their  homes  is  possible,  because  not  even  the 
government  could  by  house-to-house  inquiry  find  all  the 
names  of  persons  in  dire  want.  By  opening  local  offices 
in  various  districts  of  a  great  city  and  thus  bringing  near 
to  the  poor  the  offer  of  assistance  they  are  encouraged  to 
make  application  and  unfold  their  story.  Many  will  come 
who  should  not  have  relief  and  should  be  compelled  to 


44  BARROWS  LECTURES 

work;  and  these  must  be  detected  by  agents  accustomed 
to  discriminate  between  the  false  and  the  true.  Physicians, 
district  nurses,  missionaries,  pastors,  school  teachers,  school 
attendance  officers,  officers  of  juvenile  courts,  neighbors 
come  to  the  offices  and  reveal  the  hidden  griefs  of  the 
"poor  who  are  ashamed",  and  also  warn  against  the  hypo- 
critical and  brazen-faced  mendicants.  It  is  not  long  until 
the  society  is  overwhelmed  with  applications,  although  we 
are  never  sure  that  all  are  made  known  or  that  all  neces- 
sities of  decent  existence  and  efficiency  are  supplied. 

3.  Prompt  relief  of  urgent  distress  is  a  first  principle 
of  all  modern  charity.  As  a  physician,  in  presence  of  a 
fever  patient  or  a  wounded  man,  proceeds  at  once  to  devote 
his  skill  without  asking  questions  as  to  guilt  or  blame  or 
cause,  so  the  Charity  Organization  Society  gives  temporary 
help  for  obvious  distress  without  too  close  scrutiny  of  ante- 
cedents and  worthiness.  When  the  smarting  pain  has  been 
alleviated  and  danger  is  not  imminent,  the  inquiry  may  be 
prosecuted  thoroughly  and  at  leisure;  and  then  the  relief 
may  be  reduced,  modified  in  form,  or  increased  according 
to  the  demands  of  the  case. 

4.  The  study  of  the  total  situation  of  each  family  on 
the  relief-list  is  essential  to  permanent  help.  The  society 
must  learn  all  the  sources  of  income,  all  the  possible  re- 
sources of  relatives  and  friends,  the  number  of  persons 
dependent,  the  amount  and  kind  of  relief  required,  and, 
as  rapidly  as  possible,  the  conditions  which,  taken  together, 
caused  the  fall  into  the  state  of  dependence. 

5.  The  C.  O.S.  administrators  have  gradually  worked 
out  a  system  of  records  in  which  all  the  important  facts 
relating  to  each  family  are  set  down.  On  the  basis  of 
these  records  statistical  studies  may  be  made  and  general 
views  of  causes  and  tendencies  are  gradually  framed.  The 
records  are  immediately  necessary  for  the  practical  purpose 
of  guiding  the  distribution  of  relief  and  informing  benevo- 


RELIEF  OF  DEPENDENTS  AND  ABNORMALS  45 

lent  persons;  they  also  become  valuable  foundations  for 
a  correct  theory  of  the  subject,  without  which  practice  is 
unable  to  attain  sound  and  wise  principles  of  action. 

6.  The  C.  O.  S.  accumulates  and  records  reliable  in- 
formation about  all  the  funds  and  agencies  of  relief  and 
the  kinds  of  distress  they  are  designed  to  help,  —  public, 
private,  charitable,  repressive,  preventive.  At  a  moment's 
notice  this  inventory  or  directory  of  charity  in  a  city  will 
show  a  generous  person  where  he  can  bestow  his  gifts 
with  the  best  results.  The  administrative  officers  will 
always  be  able  to  secure  help  from  the  most  appropriate 
source:  medical  advice  from  a  dispensary,  orthopedic  sur- 
gery in  a  children's  hospital,  asylum  for  a  friendless  ex- 
pectant mother  in  a  maternity,  lodgings  for  a  homeless 
man,  temporary  relief  for  a  foreigner  from  the  local  society 
of  his  compatriots,  or  free  transportation  home  to  a  lad 
who  has  spent  his  last  cent  and  faces  a  winter's  night  in 
the  frosty  street. 

7.  The  visitors,  officers,  and  directors  gradually  acquire 
a  scientific  attitude  towards  the  phenomena  of  misery,  and 
ask  questions  about  causes.  Sickness  has  compelled  an 
indigent  family  to  beg;  what  caused  the  sickness?  A  hard- 
working mechanic  is  accidentally  injured  in  the  shops  by 
machinery  and  loses  his  income;  was  the  machinery  pro- 
perly guarded,  and  did  the  factory  law  require  a  protective 
device?  The  father  of  numerous  children  is  a  victim  of 
tuberculosis  or  locomotor  ataxia;  how  did  he  acquire  the 
disease?  A  working  girl  is  anaemic,  feeble;  what  was 
there  in  the  conditions  of  the  laundry  or  shop  to  depress 
her  vitality?  Endless  questions  thus  arise  in  a  scientific 
age.  We  are  no  longer  content  to  say:  "It  is  fate,  or 
providence,  or  chance."  We  are  determined  to  discover 
precisely  and  exactly  just  what  real  thing  or  force  or  con- 
dition produced  this  revolting  situation,  this  agony,  this 
despair.    Perhaps  this  new  note  in  charity  is  the  most  char- 


46  BARROWS  LECTURES 

acteristic  feature  of  modern  philanthropy  as  distinguished 
from  mediaeval  charity. 

8.  The  C.  0.  S.  people  are  busy  working  out  a  policy 
of  relief  and  prevention.  The  scientific  process  is  not 
complete  when  the  baneful  poison  is  discovered,  the  deadly 
germ  isolated;  it  pushes  on  to  find  the  antidote,  the  anti- 
toxin. Having  assembled  in  records  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  individual  facts,  and  discovered  tendencies  and  like- 
nesses, and  traced  back  the  tiger  of  pain  to  his  lair  in  the 
jungle  of  causes,  human  minds  collaborate  in  framing  a 
working  hypothesis  of  rescue  and  remedy.  This  policy 
is  not  a  simple  programme,  but  tends  to  become  as  com- 
plex as  the  social  situation  which  we  confront  when  we 
undertake  to  war  against  misery.  In  this  prolonged  combat 
we  need  artillery,  infantry,  cavalry,  sappers  and  miners, 
electricians,  —  all  horse,  foot,  and  dragoons. 

9.  Educating,  persuading,  rallying  the  public  to  adopt 
the  policy  is  an  essential  task  of  C.  0.  S.  In  the  countries 
of  the  West  public  opinion  is  decisive,  and  in  parliaments 
and  legislatures  it  finds  voice  and  instrument.  In  order 
to  secure  funds  for  relief,  new  laws  to  prevent  disaster, 
and  wiser  administration  of  public  offices,  constant  appeal 
must  be  made  through  newspapers,  magazines,  and  books 
to  the  intelligent  leaders  of  the  community  and  to  the 
humblest  voters.  In  this  process  of  educating  our  masters, 
the  voters,  our  records  are  invaluable  and  constantly  grow 
in  usefulness  and  convincing  power. 

"The  Elberfeld  System";  the  organization  of  public 
relief  of  needy  families  in  German  cities. 

The  essential  features  of  this  system  are:  1.  Each 
German  city  has  a  city-councillor,  a  highly  educated  and 
trained  official,  who  is  set  over  the  entire  business  of 
public  relief  of  the  destitute.  He  represents  the  profession- 
al, bureaucratic  and  thoroughly  scientific  factor,  and  he 
has  taken  a  degree  in  some  University. 


RELIEF  OF  DEPENDENTS  AND  ABNORMALS  47 

2.  The  city  is  divided  into  convenient  districts,  witii 
a  committee  of  unpaid  visitors  who  constitute  a  local  coun- 
cil of  friends  of  the  poor  in  that  part  of  the  city.  These 
visitors  hold  "honor  offices";  they  are  appointed  by  the 
city  and  are  bound  to  serve,  unless  they  have  a  reasonable 
excuse.  To  each  visitor  is  assigned  a  few  needy  families, 
and  it  is  his  duty  to  visit  them  in  their  homes,  inquire 
about  their  conditions,  resources  and  needs,  and  report  to 
the  council  once  in  a  fortnight.  He  is  expected  to  be  hu- 
mane and  considerate,  but  at  the  same  time  to  guard  the 
public  funds  from  abuse  and  imposture.  After  hearing 
the  report  of  the  visitor  the  entire  council  votes  on  the 
action  which  is  to  be  taken  in  each  case.  The  amount  of 
relief  is  paid  upon  requisition  to  the  applicant  for  aid. 

3.  The  records  (Akten)  of  each  assisted  family  are 
written  and  preserved  in  the  city  relief  office,  and  are  then 
available  for  future  study. 

4.  While  the  district  councils  vote  on  each  case  ac- 
cording to  their  best  judgment,  they  must  keep  within  the 
standard  of  law  and  of  the  city  ordinances. 

This  system  has  awakened  the  admiration  of  students 
and  travellers  in  all  the  West.  It  combines  public  authority, 
adequate  funds,  personal  attention,  neighborly  kindness, 
wide  extension  of  knowledge  of  conditions  of  life,  with  a 
careful  examination  and  sifting  of  all  claims  to  relief  at  public 
expense.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  vast  army  of 
visitors  from  the  comfortable  citizens  moving  about  among 
the  miserable  and  suffering  has  kept  alive  the  attention  of 
the  nation  to  the  cruelties,  mistakes,  and  hardships  of  our 
industrial  and  political  system,  and  educated  the  conscience 
of  men  in  respect  to  social  legislation  to  correct  wrongs 
and  prevent  injuries. 

The  advantage  of  the  German  system  over  that  of 
America  lies  in  this  fact:  it  combines  the  unlimited  re- 
sources of  the  public  treasury  with  the  personal  interest 


48  BARROWS  LECTURES 

of  the  visitor.  In  America  public  relief  can  be  made  ade- 
quate and  private  relief  tender  and  humane;  while  in  Ger- 
many the  fund  is  abundant  and  the  visitors  can  do  what 
the  misery  requires.  In  no  American  city  can  private  so- 
cieties adequately  relieve  all  cases  of  distress,  because 
they  cannot  collect  money  enough  from  their  limited  con- 
stituency. Voluntarily  charity  is  necessarily  too  fluctuating, 
fickle,  and  spasmodic  to  rely  upon,  and  adequate  relief  must 
rest  finally  upon  the  broader  basis  of  universal  law. 

IV.  Institutional  Relief.  After  the  community  has 
done  all  that  lies  in  its  power  to  keep  the  family  intact,  there 
are  always  individual  indigent  persons  who  must  be  placed 
in  institutions. 

During  the  Middle  Ages  the  "hospital"  had  a  general 
character.  It  not  only  received  the  sick,  but  also  travellers, 
abandoned  children,  aged  persons,  the  blind,  the  insane, 
the  imbecile.  Gradually,  by  steps  we  cannot  now  follow, 
separate  and  special  institutions  were  erected,  each  being 
adapted  particularly,  in  structure  and  administration,  to 
some  special  group  of  the  poor,  as  leproseries,  asylums 
for  old  people,  foundlings'  homes,  surgical  and  medical 
hospitals,  lodgings  for  the  wanderer,  and  many  others. 
Now  each  State  has  a  complicated  system  of  specialized 
institutions,  public  and  private,  for  every  known  class  of 
dependents,  where  each  can  have  the  particular  kind  of 
accommodations  and  treatment  which  he  requires. 

We  are  not  called  on  to  study  the  technical  problems 
of  administration  of  these  institutions;  indeed,  that  would 
be  impossible  for  any  one  person,  because  there  is  a  body 
of  knowledge  and  a  corps  of  specialists  for  each  group  of 
defective  and  abnormal  persons. 

We  may,  however,  go  far  enough  into  this  subject  to 
indicate  the  direction  of  specialization  and  its  principle  of 
division  of  social  labor. 


RELIEF  OF  DEPENDENTS  AND  ABNORMALS  49 

1.  It  was  long  since  discovered  that  innocent  and 
homeless  children  should  not  be  kept  in  close  contact  with 
adult  paupers,  with  the  insane,  with  epileptics,  with  people 
ruined  by  drugs  and  drink.  Gradually  such  dependent  chil- 
dren were  placed  in  their  own  institutions. 

Of  recent  years  we  have  discovered  and  agreed  that, 
as  soon  as  possible,  children  who  have  no  natural  home 
should  be  placed,  either  as  boarders  or  as  adopted,  in 
good  family  homes.  But  the  specialized  orphanage  was 
a  good  step  in  the  right  direction  of  removing  dependent 
and  neglected  children  from  dangerous  or  unwholesome 
surroundings  in  contact  with  demented  or  depraved  adults. 

2.  For  other  reasons  special  homes  for  old  people 
have  been  established;  and  these  have  been  so  separated 
and  differentiated  as  to  bring  together  those  who  are  con- 
genial, and  remove  those  whose  feelings  and  habits  of  life 
would  produce  discomfort  and  disorder. 

3.  Medical  charity  has  developed  many  forms  with 
the  progress  of  science  and  art,  with  wealth  and  resources, 
with  state  and  municipal  intervention,  and  with  the  evolu- 
tion of  social  classes  and  groups.  Thus  we  have  dis- 
pensaries for  medical  relief  of  poor  people  who  can  walk 
to  the  hospital  or  clinic, —  "out-cases"  or  ambulatory  cases. 
We  have  general  hospitals  with  departments  for  surgery 
and  medicine;  maternity  hospitals;  hospitals  for  contagious 
diseases;  children's  hospitals.  Some  of  these  are  public 
and  others  are  private;  and  the  private  establishments  are 
supported  partly  by  fees  of  paying  patients  and  partly  by 
endowments  or  gifts  of  generous  patrons. 

4.  Educational  charity  has  also  assumed  many  forms. 
Private  philanthropy  formerly  established  free  schools  for 
poor  children;  but  now  the  more  progressive  states  support 
free  schools  at  public  expense  and  make  attendance  obli- 
gatory. Even  yet  private  philanthropy  supplements  the 
public   schools    in  peculiar    and   exceptional   conditions. 

4 


50  BARROWS  LECTURES 

Wherever  dependent  or  neglected  children  must  be  kept 
for  any  length  of  time,  a  school  must  be  maintained.  For 
wayward  and  tempted  youth,  after  the  age  of  compulsory 
attendance,  private  philanthropy  has  provided  class-rooms 
and  teachers;  and  the  states  are  increasing  the  number  of 
reform  schools  for  the  discipline  of  youth  who  cannot  well 
be  managed  in  ordinary  public  schools. 

In  connection  with  juvenile  courts  there  must  be 
detention  homes  with  their  classes;  and  all  parental, 
industrial,  and  reform  schools  support  the  pupils,  largely 
at  community  cost,  during  the  term  of  discipline. 

5.  Care  of  abnormals.  a)  The  insane.  In  the  former 
ages  of  ignorance,  harshness,  and  neglect,  the  insane  and 
other  abnormals  were  often  confined  in  prisons  and  jails 
with  criminals.  The  only  thought  was  to  protect  the  com- 
munity against  danger.  However,  even  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
in  Spain  and  Italy,  the  insane  were  occasionally  gathered 
by  charitable  monks  in  special  institutions  and  kindly 
treated.  During  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries 
the  particular  branches  of  medical  science  dealing  with 
nervous  diseases  had  a  wonderful  development.  These 
unfortunate  persons  were  more  and  more  looked  upon,  not 
as  diabolically  possessed,  but  as  simply  sick  and  in  need 
of  supervision  and  nursing.  As  this  more  humane  and 
scientific  view  became  popular,  it  required  the  establish- 
ment of  hospitals  and  asylums,  and  the  removal  of  the 
insane  to  them  for  the  treatment  they  could  not  elsewhere 
enjoy.  This  movement  is  not  even  yet  universal  in  its 
sweep,  but  it  will  not  be  long  until  the  last  of  the  ancient 
superstition  and  cruelty  has  been  swept  away, 

b)  Special  institutions  or  colonies  for  epileptics  are 
more  recent.  The  epileptics  are  frequently  not  insane,  and 
not  feeble-minded.  They  are  subject  at  intervals  to  terrible 
and  tragic  convulsions  which  are  horrible  to  witness  and 
which  bring  the  victim  into  extreme  danger  of  life,  —  as 


RELIEF  OF  DEPENDENTS  AND  ABNORMALS  51 

when  he  falls  unconscious  in  the  crowded  street  or  is 
caught  by  revolving  machinery.  Some  epileptics  do  not 
have  convulsions,  but  develop  dangerous  traits,  so  that 
they  are  liable  to  commit  crimes.  Punishment  does  them 
no  good,  and  when  they  have  served  their  terms,  they  come 
out  from  prison  more  dangerous  than  before. 

All  these  diseased  persons  should  be  gathered  in 
agricultural  colonies,  where  they  can  support  themselves  by 
farming  and  gardening,  and  escape  the  perils  of  ordinary 
life  in  towns.  This  is  the  view  now  accepted  by  experts 
and  gradually  adopted  in  legislation.  In  the  United  States, 
New  York,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  other  states  have  established 
such  colonies  with  very  gratifying  results. 

As  epilepsy  is  an  inherited  disease,  the  colonies  are 
made  up  of  celibates,  and  the  sexes  are  separated,  so  that 
they  have  no  offspring  to  perpetuate  their  disease  and 
their  sufferings. 

c)  The  feeble-minded  are  persons  of  arrested  nervous 
development;  in  the  majority  of  cases,  they  inherit  their 
disability  and  cannot  be  educated  and  trained  to  fit  them 
for  competitive  life.  Therefore,  the  belief  is  accepted  by 
all  competent  authorities,  and  is  gradually  coming  to 
mould  legislation,  that  those  who  are  seriously  feeble- 
minded should  be  placed  in  separate  colonies,  kindly 
treated,  trained  to  work  at  simple  industries,  as  far  as 
possible,  and  prevented  from  having  any  children  to  bear 
the  hereditary  burden  of  defect. 

6.  The  blind,  the  deaf,  and  the  crippled, —  so  far  as 
they  are  dependent,  —  are  cared  for  by  public  or  private 
charity.  In  most  of  the  states  of  the  American  Union  the 
free  public  schools  provide  suitable  instruction  in  either 
special  rooms  of  the  ordinary  schools,  or  in  state  institutions 
for  the  blind  and  deaf,  where  specially  trained  teachers 
aid  them  to  make  the  most  of  their  limited  powers.  For 
the  crippled  or   disabled   children,   we  have  only  made 


52  BARROWS  LECTURES 

beginnings.  We  do  not  yet  know  the  number  of  this  class, 
nor  have  we  fully  developed  methods  of  education,  training, 
and  care  of  dependent  adults.  Out  of  the  experimental 
institutions  we  may  expect  to  see,  before  long,  come  a 
method  which  will  be  adopted  in  all  the  world. 

V.  Relief  in  times  of  public  calamity.  In  America 
and  in  Europe  "famines"  are  no  longer  known,  although 
our  deliverance  dates  from  comparatively  recent  times. 
There  are  local  failures  of  crops,  inundations  of  low-lying 
districts,  occasionally  earthquakes  and  conflagrations,  but 
never  such  general  distress  as  was  frequent  in  Europe  of 
the  Middle  Ages. 

Our  immunity  from  such  catastrophes  is  due:  1.  to 
conditions  of  climate  and  generally  reliable  rainfalls,  al- 
though some  great  Asiatic  countries  seem  to  have  the 
advantage  of  us  in  this  respect;'  2.  to  irrigation  works 
where  rainfall  is  unreliable;  3.  to  our  networks  of  railways 
which  bring  surplus  food  from  fortunate  regions  to  supply 
the  deficiency  in  areas  whose  crops  are  insufficient;  4.  to 
the  widespread  use  of  insurance,  whereby  the  burden  of 
loss  is  so  distributed  that  it  does  not  crush  a  few  indi- 
viduals; 5.  to  the  aid  of  vast  public  subscriptions  and 
government  grants  for  relief  when  the  calamity  is  extraordi- 
nary. The  people  of  the  United  States  have,  from  time  to 
time,  sent  vast  quantities  of  money  and  food  to  starving 
populations  in  Russia,  China,  India. 

The  Red  Cross  Society,  both  in  peace  and  war,  is  the 
recognized  organ  of  national  beneficence  when  the  suffering 
is  too  great  for  the  resources  of  a  community  or  State. 
It  is  under  the  patronage  of  the  national  executive.  Under 
the  leadership  of  this  great  society  the  nations  of  the 
world  are  gradually  coming  to  an  understanding  and  agree- 

'  KING,  Farmers  of  Forty  Centuries. 


RELIEF  OF  DEPENDENTS  AND  ABNORMALS  53 

ment,  and  are  formulating  principles  of  relief  of  distress 
which  makes  appeal  for  help  to  all  rich  and  prosperous 
countries. 

VI.  Policy  of  Prevention  of  Misery.  The  very  activity 
and  liberality  of  charity  has  created  new  problems  for  the 
State.  Formerly  the  weak  were  much  more  neglected  and 
more  likely  to  perish,  and  capital  punishment  was  so  gener- 
ally applied  to  delinquents  that  it  weeded  out  man)  un- 
desirable members  of  society,  especially  the  dangerous. 

But  now  modern  medical  science  has  so  successfully 
employed  the  resources  furnished  by  philanthropy  that 
we  are  at  present  actually  increasing  the  number  of  the 
insane,  feeble-minded,  unsteady,  and  unfit  members  of 
society.  Our  moral  convictions  and  our  religion  will  not 
permit  us  to  kill  these  miserable  persons,  nor  even  to  let 
them  starve.  All  human  beings  born  on  this  earth  have 
a  right  to  live,  if  necessary  at  the  expense  of  charitable 
relief,  and  to  be  kept  from  suffering.  The  sincere  accep- 
tance of  this  article  of  faith,  moral  and  religious,  demands 
the  system  of  relief  of  which  I  have  spoken. 

In  order  that  charity  and  social  sympathy  may  not 
defeat  their  own  purpose  by  increasing  the  number  of  the 
incapable  and  unfit,  it  is  becoming  clear  that  we  must  add 
to  our  relief  system  a  policy  of  prevention,  which  shall 
also  be  merciful,  while  more  reasonable.  We  desire  to 
retain  the  beautiful  humanity  of  feeling,  but  carry  it  into 
life  on  the  basis  of  scientific  method. 

The  Policy  of  Prevention  which  is  now  taking  shape 
in  men's  minds  in  the  West  may  be  analysed  and  discussed 
under  the  following  heads:  1.  Eugenics;  2.  Education; 
3.  control  and  discipline  of  difficult  citizens;  4.  reduction 
and  elimination  of  the  conditions  which  produce  sickness; 
5.  the  social  policy  for  the  improvement  of  the  conditions 
of  the  Industrial  Group,  elsewhere  discussed,  to  the  end 


54  BARROWS  LECTURES 

that  none  or  few  of  them  may  drop  down  into  the  class 
of  indigents  and  wastrels. 

In  regard  to  the  prevention  of  misery  by  improving 
the  economic  conditions  of  the  wage-earners,  especially  of 
those  in  most  precarious  situations,  we  have  elsewhere 
spoken. 

The  policy  of  public  health,  when  fully  carried  out, 
will  greatly  reduce  the  causes  of  dependence  which  arise 
from  sickness. 

Vocational  training  and  guidance  will  further  diminish 
the  number  of  those  who  fail  because  they  have  neither 
skill  nor  habits  of  steady  industry. 

Elimination  of  the  unfit.  One  form  of  the  eugenic 
movement  is  the  custodial  care  of  hopelessly  defective 
adults  in  self-supporting  celibate  colonies.  When  the 
State  assumes  the  support  of  a  dependent  person  during 
life,  it  then  acquires  the  right  to  decide  where  and  how 
that  person  shall  live.  So  long  as  a  human  being  earns 
his  own  way,  and  does  nothing  to  injure  his  neighbors, 
we  permit  him  to  select  his  own  path.  We  give  him 
protection  of  life,  property,  and  liberty;  we  offer  him 
schools,  libraries,  and  lectures  to  guide  his  judgment  and 
increase  his  skill;  and  then  we  leave  him  free  to  work  out 
his  destiny,  even  if  he  makes  some  serious  mistakes.  But 
when  the  very  capacity  for  rational  choice  is  lost,  and 
when  the  person  is  irresponsible,  a  radically  different 
policy  must  be  adopted  in  the  name  of  pity,  kindness,  and 
racial  integrity.  We  have  already  experimented  far  enough 
to  know  that  custodial  asylums  are  not  only  effective,  but, 
under  wise  and  capable  management,  may  be  economically 
conducted.  There  are  many  of  these  half-witted,  morally 
irresponsible,  and  degenerate  people,  who  are  strong  enough 
to  work  steadily  at  simple  occupations,  if  they  are  directed 
and  kindly  treated.  The  most  sensible,  rational,  and 
humane  policy  has  been  discovered.    Mercy  can  be  scien- 


RELIEF  OF  DEPENDENTS  AND  ABNORMALS  55 

tific,  compassion  need  not  any  longer  be  in  conflict  with 
the  permanent  interest  and  forward  march  of  a  nation. 
It  remains  only  to  carry  out  this  policy  in  a  complete 
system  in  every  state  and  nation,  to  provide  the  necessary 
equipment  of  land,  buildings,  and  directors,  and  to  assure 
a  universal  and  effective  application  of  the  principle  under 
thorough  and  well-trained  administrators.  We  have  already 
colonies  which  may  safely  be  imitated  in  regions  where 
this  policy  has  not  yet  been  adopted  by  public  opinion 
and  governmental  authority. 


LECTURE  THREE 

POLICY  OF  THE  WESTERN  WORLD  IN  RELATION 
TO  THE  ANTI-SOCIAL 

Our  ancestors  have  achieved  wonderful  success,  es- 
pecially during  the  more  recent  centuries:  they  have  cleared 
forests,  built  cities,  made  life  comfortable  with  many 
inventions,  harnessed  the  lightning,  conquered  space  by 
the  power  of  steam,  and  have  developed  scores  of  special 
branches  of  science.  They  have  formed  political  national- 
ities out  of  wandering,  warring  tribes  of  barbarians.  They 
have  educated  the  people  to  desire  and  to  secure  re- 
presentation in  legislation.  They  have  abolished  serfdom 
and  slavery,  and  made  men  legally  free  under  a  regime  of 
voluntary  contract. 

In  the  realm  of  the  spirit,  Judaism  and  Christianity 
have  thought  out  every  possible  speculation  in  respect  to 
the  nature  of  the  Divine  Being,  and  have  included  in  the 
range  of  their  speculation  the  views  of  the  "Sacred  Books 
of  the  East,"  and  especially  the  philosophies  of  ancient 
Greece  and  Rome. 

They  have  advanced  from  common  observation  of 
the  mechanism  of  thought,  feeling,  and  volition  to  the  con- 
trolled and  precise  methods  of  laboratory  experimentation 
in  physiological  psychology. 

They  have  abolished  the  fear  of  danger  of  many  plagues, 
—  leprosy,  small-pox,  cholera,  yellow  fever,  diphtheria,  and 
tuberculosis, —  and  they  have  given  the  younger  generation 
a  method  of  investigation  which  will  gradually  bring  under 
control  all  the  preventable  diseases. 

They  have  abolished  famine,  that  haunting  specter  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  by  improvements  in  the  technique  and 
organization  of  transportation  and  distribution. 


POLICY  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  ANTI-SOCIAL  57 

There  remains  for  the  coming  generations  to  abolish 
war,  misery,  vice,  and  crime. 

It  is  my  purpose  in  this  lecture  to  indicate,  in  its  main 
outlines,  the  most  recent  policy  of  progressive  thinkers 
and  administrators  for  the  reduction  and  final  abolition 
of  crime. 

It  is  not  my  intention,  as  it  is  not  in  the  line  of  my 
professional  duty,  to  discuss  the  Criminal  Law  and  Pro- 
cedure of  Europe  and  America.  India  is  familiar,  through 
the  splendid  work  of  Macaulay,  with  the  essential  and 
best  features  of  English  and  American  Criminal  Law  and 
Procedure. 

It  is  rather  the  purpose  of  this  lecture  to  go  deeper 
than  texts,  statutes,  codes,  and  precedents,  and  endeavor 
to  disclose  the  sociological  ideas  which  inspire  the  reforms 
and  improvements  of  our  age,  and  the  social  conditions 
which  make  such  reforms  desirable  and  even  necessary. 

Criminal  Law,  especially  when  codified,  furnishes  us 
a  classified  list  of  unlawful  actions  called  crimes,  and 
also  a  list  of  sanctions  or  penalties  graded  according  to 
the  appraised  enormity  or  heinousness  of  the  deed  con- 
demned. Criminal  Procedure  is  the  method  laid  down  in 
the  law  for  the  apprehension,  trial,  and  conviction  or  ac- 
quittal of  persons  charged  with  having  committed  one  of 
the  actions  which  are  threatened  with  punishment  in  the 
code. 

But  deeper  than  all  such  legal  forms  are  the  facts  and 
needs  of  society,  and  the  varying  characters  of  offenders. 
It  is  of  these  we  must  now  speak  and  think. 

I 

THE  ANTI-SOCIAL  PERSONS  AS  CITIZENS 

Criminals  are  public  enemies;  but  even  foes  are  men; 
bad  men  are  still  citizens,  and  have  their  rights.     The 


58  BARROWS  LECTURES 

religion  professed  by  the  Occident  teaches  that  we  ought 
even  to  love  our  enemies,  not  with  complacency  and 
approval,  but  with  pity  and  hope.  The  mode  by  which 
we  are  trying  at  once  to  protect  society  and  save  the 
fallen  brother  is  what  we  have  to  consider  together. 

And  I  must  also  confess  that  we  are  still  in  the  stage 
of  discussion  of  this  knotty  problem  and  have  not  yet 
reached  a  unanimous  agreement  on  some  of  the  im- 
portant points.  All  I  can  promise  is  an  indication  of  the 
main  direction  of  thought  and  action  in  this  perilous  and 
stormy  voyage  of  discovery. 

This  hour  we  must  descend  into  the  very  Inferno  of 
Occidental  society.  Perhaps  one  of  the  severest  tests  of 
the  civilization,  morality,  and  religion  of  a  people  is  its 
crime  class;  and  one  of  its  marks  of  backward  or  advanced 
stage  of  development  is  the  mode  of  its  reaction  against 
its  enemies. 

For,  the  offender  against  wholesome  law  is  a  public 
enemy;  he  is  the  foe  of  peace,  order,  society,  refinement, 
morality,  beauty,  religion.  His  attitude  is  hostile.  If  the 
numbers  and  strength  of  criminals  is  great,  they  are  bold 
and  cruel;  if  they  are  few  and  subdued,  they  are  sneaking 
and  treacherous. 

All  countries  in  the  Occident  must  confess  with  shame 
the  existence  of  numerous  criminals;  and  comparative 
statistics  do  not  give  occasion  of  boasting  to  any  one 
people. 

II 

THE  EXTENT  OF  CRIME 

1.  The  number  of  professional  criminals  in  Western 
nations  is  not  very  great.  It  is  a  small  fraction  and 
without  social  influence. 

2.  The  number  of  persons  who  transgress  laws  and 
ordinances,  with  or  without  punishment,   is   very   great. 


POLICY  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  ANTI-SOCIAL  59 

Indeed,  as  cities  increase  in  size  and  complexity,  the 
regulations  of  conduct  supported  by  penalties  increase  in 
number,  until  no  citizen  can  know  or  remember  them. 
On  the  surface,  the  statistics  of  crime  show  badly  for  us; 
but  such  statistics  are  often  misleading,  because  they 
include  many  trespasses  which  are  the  result  of  ignorance 
of  a  rule,  or  an  accidental  injury  calling  for  indemnity 
rather  than  punishment,  and  are  not  crimes  in  the  proper 
sense  of  the  word.  The  fines  for  violation  of  city  ordi- 
nances are  not  punishments,  but  rather  disciplinary  mea- 
sures to  secure  the  enforcement  of  useful  customs. 

3.  We  must,  however,  confess  that  the  statistics  of 
crime  are,  in  other  directions,  short  of  the  facts;  for  most 
criminal  violations  of  law  never  come  to  light,  or  they  are 
done  with  such  skill  and  under  such  shrewd  legal  advice 
that  they  cannot  be  brought  to  court  for  trial. 

4.  However  small  the  number  of  criminals,  the  mischief 
they  do  is  known  to  be  vast,  even  appalling.  It  is  a 
serious  matter  to  have  a  horde  of  parasites  feeding  on  the 
toil  and  sacrifice  of  a  people,  destroying  property,  rendering 
life  and  industry  insecure,  and  compelling  us  to  support 
armies  of  policemen,  judges,  courts,  jails,  penitentiaries  to 
maintain  tolerable  order. 

Ill 

KINDS  OF  CRIMINALS  RECOGNIZED   BY  MODERN  SOCIAL  SCIENCE 

We  have  no  large  bands  or  tribes  of  men  organized 
to  rob  and  pillage.  Where  police  and  courts  have  been 
established,  these  groups  are  dissolved.  Rarely,  and  only 
in  obscure  places,  do  small  "gangs"  of  dangerous  men 
hold  together  for  a  short  time  for  criminal  purposes. 

1.  There  are  offenders  who  are  not  responsible  in 
the  sense  of  criminal  law.  Among  the  motley  multitude 
who  do  forbidden  deeds,  recognized  as  socially  harmful, 


60  BARROWS  LECTURES 

there  are  many  who  are  not  legally  "criminals."  Thus, 
many  insane  persons  commit  theft,  robbery,  arson,  assault, 
or  homicide,  and  are  not  punished,  because  their  physical 
condition  makes  them  irresponsible.  They  are  restrained 
of  liberty  for  their  cure,  not  for  punishment. 

With  the  advance  of  medical  science  and  modern 
psychology  the  range  of  these  excepted  cases  is  enlarged, 
and  more  discrimination  is  used. 

Epilepsy  and  imbecility  are  more  carefully  studied, 

their  peculiarities  are  better  known,  and  the  appropriate 

treatment  has  been  improved.     There  is  a  very  strong 

movement  to  connect  an  expert  in  nervous  diseases  with 

each  criminal  court,  in  order  to  discover  those  persons 

who  are  charged  with  crime,  but  ought  not  to  be  put  on 

trial   as  charged   with   crime,   but  should   be   sent  to  a 

hospital  for  medical   treatment  and  control.    Already,  in 

the  Juvenile  Court   of  my   own  city,  a  physician  and  a 

psychologist  examine  each  youthful  offender  and  furnish 

their  findings  to  the  judge,  to  aid  him  in  prescribing  the 

treatment.    Sometimes  medical  and  educational  treatment 

will  remove  the  cause  of  erratic  conduct  and  restore  the 

person  to  normal  ways  of  action. 

2.  There  are,  of  course,  some  cases  on  the  borderland 
between  normality  and  insanity;  but  it  would  be  easy  to 
keep  such  persons,  if  they  have  been  troublesome,  under 
control  and  observation,  until  their  true  condition  is  made  out. 

3.  The  "defective  delinquent"  has  come  to  be 
distinguished  and  separated  for  special  treatment.  Thus, 
an  interesting  law  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts  (1911) 
designates  certain  offenders  as  "defective  delinquents", 
both  men  and  women,  and  instructs  the  prison  adminis- 
tration to  erect  for  them  departments  for  a  particular  and 
suitable  regimen. 

4.  The  young  offender  ("first  offender"), —  educable. 
There  are  persons  who  commit  deeds  which  are  serious 


POLICY  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  ANTI-SOCIAL  61 

and  hurtful,  and  yet  have  not  a  deeply  vicious  nature. 
Even  when  the  unlawful  act  is  repeated,  it  may  not  imply 
a  seated  and  rooted  criminality.  Such  persons  are  fre- 
quently brought  before  our  courts.  Sometimes  a  reprimand 
or  warning  from  the  judge  may  be  sufficient  to  turn  the 
boy  or  young  man  back  into  the  right  path.  But,  generally, 
we  have  found  that  a  lawless  deed  is  not  alone;  it  points 
back  to  other  lapses  which  had  not  come  to  light.  There- 
fore, persons  of  this  category  have  been  placed  under  pro- 
bation and  supervision  of  a  reliable  officer  and  watched 
for  a  time. 

When  the  offence  is  too  serious  to  ignore  or  pass 
over  with  a  fine  or  release  under  watchcare,  we  have,  in 
America,  established  a  graded  series  of  institutions:  "Pa- 
rental Schools"  for  truant  and  difficult  children  who  run 
away  from  the  public  schools;  Industrial  or  Reform  Schools, 
where  boys  or  girls  are  kept  for  several  years  for  educa- 
tion and  occupational  training;  "Reformatories",  like  the 
famous  institution  at  Elmira,  New  York,  for  more  mature 
young  men,  of  eighteen  years  or  more,  who  should  not  be 
kept  with  confirmed  and  hardened  criminals.  Something 
akin  to  this  system  is  started  in  most  European  countries. 

5.  Finally,  we  have  the  habitual  criminal,  the  man 
who  has  formed  the  habit  of  living  without  regular  work, 
on  the  proceeds  of  theft  and  robbery.  Among  habitual 
offenders  we  must  distinguish  between — a)  the  weaklings, 
b)  the  trained,  professional  criminals. 

IV 

THE  SOCIAL  PURPOSE  OF  THE  OCCIDENT  IN  THE  TREATMENT 
OF  CRIME 

This  cannot  be  stated  in  few  words,  for  it  is  complex 
and  many-sided.  Ages  ago  a  great  philosopher  of  Greece 
interpreted  the  rational  end  of  punishment  of  offenders: 


62  BARROWS  LECTURES 


Now  the  proper  office  of  punishment  is  two-fold;  he  who  is 
rightly  punished  ought  either  to  become  better  and  profit  by  it,  or 
he  ought  to  be  made  an  example  to  his  fellows,  that  they  may  see 
what  he  suffers,  and  fear,  and  become  better.    (Plato,  Gorgias.) 

1.  There  is  the  objective  fact,  the  crime;  that  is,  the 
action  which  brings  injury  to  the  individual  victim,  and 
disturbs  social  order,  which  menaces  security  of  life  and 
property,  and  defies  government. 

Crimes  as  objective  facts  are  classified  in  criminal 
codes  and  statutes  as  offences  against  person,  property, 
order,  peace,  reputation,  public  health,  morality,  etc.  The 
more  important  community  interests  thus  furnish  the  basis  for 
grouping  of  the  actions  condemned.  This  classification  of 
crimes  according  to  groups  of  social  interests  shows  that  one 
purpose  of  society  must  be  the  protection  of  these  interests. 

The  use  of  fear  and  pain,  as  legal  consequences  of 
crime,  is  legitimate  and  reasonable.  Experience  has  shown, 
at  least  men  universally  so  believe,  that  fear  is  necessary 
to  repress  anti-social  conduct.  Pain  is  to  the  individual  a 
signal  of  danger  to  health,  a  beneficent  though  disagree- 
able warning  of  suffering  or  death.  Pain  in  the  "body 
politic"  has  a  similar  office.  The  knowledge  that  certain 
anti-social  actions  will,  in  a  high  degree  of  probability, 
bring  pain  and  loss,  is  a  deterrent. 

Society  must  act;  it  cannot  give  impunity  to  its  law- 
less citizens,  for  this  would  encourage  them  to  go  on  in 
evil  ways.  Criminals  are  aggressive  in  satisfying  their 
selfish  desire  at  the  cost  of  others,  and  a  passive  non- 
resistance  policy  would  be  suicidal.  It  would  not  be  kindness 
to  wicked  men  to  encourage  them  in  their  hope  of  impunity. 

2.  Many  legal  writers  assert  that  another  purpose  of 
punishment  is  retribution;  to  pay  back  upon  the  offender 
a  penalty  measured  by  his  guilt.  But  many  of  us  reject 
this  idea  of  retribution  (Vergeltung,  pena),  because  we  re- 
gard it  as  a  mere  reminiscence  of  revenge  and  ancient  com- 


POLICY  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  ANTI-SOCIAL  63 

pensation.     We  do  not  believe  a  price  ought  to  be  placed 
upon  crime,  or  that  any  measure  of  guilt  can  be  found. 

That  there  is  a  quite  general  instinctive  demand  in 
modern  communities  for  retribution,  for  "getting  even"  with 
offenders,  we  readily  grant;  but  we  think  this  is  an  instinct 
to  be  overcome,  and  that  some  rational,  social  end  should 
be  substituted  for  it  as  rapidly  as  possible.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  this  notion  is  gradually  being  disavowed  and  aban- 
doned as  irrational. 

At  the  same  time,  it  is  true  that  the  moral  antagonism 
against  wrong-doing  ought  to  find  expression.  The  normal 
man,  of  sound  character,  is  not  indifferent  to  good  and  evil 
and  will  show  his  displeasure,  even  with  his  own  children. 
He  will  not  be  cruel  nor  passionate;  but  by  look  and  action 
he  will  manifest  his  protest  or  approval. 

3.  The  nature  and  character  of  the  offender,  so  far  as 
it  is  anti-social,  requires  "reformation".  If  we  can  reduce 
the  aims  of  "punishment"  to  two,  —  1.  protection  of  society, 
and  2.  reclamation  of  the  offender,  we  find  they  can  be 
reconciled.  It  is  not  always  possible  to  reform  the  convict, 
by  any  means  yet  discovered.  In  such  case,  society  should 
use  its  power  to  restrain  the  incorrigible  offender  in  such 
a  way  that  he  cannot  do  harm.  But  in  all  cases,  the  offender 
is  still  a  man,  a  citizen,  and  so  long  as  he  is  alive,  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  State  to  ply  him  with  all  the  influences 
which  give  promise  of  improving  him.  The  discipline 
necessary  for  reformation  is  itself  at  first  painful,  but  not 
damaging,  to  the  lawless  man.  What  he  needs  most  is 
what  he  desires  least. 

V 

THE  RESOURCES  AND  MEASURES  OF  SOCIETY  IN  CARRYING 
OUT  ITS  SELF-PROTECTIVE  AND  REFORMATORY  AIMS 

1.    The  fine.    Deprivation  of  one's  property  and  earn- 
ings is  felt  to  be  painful.    The  threat  of  a  pecuniary  loss 


64  BARROV/S  LECTURES 

is  a  warning  to  persons  who  are  tempted;  it  causes  an 
offender,  convicted  and  fined,  to  reflect  in  the  future  and  to 
avoid  repetition  of  his  careless,  heedless,  or  malicious  action. 
The  fine  sets  up  "inhibitions"  in  the  psychical  mechanism; 
and  that  is  its  purpose. 

2.  Imprisonment,  deprivation  of  liberty  (Freiheits- 
strafe),  has  come  to  be  the  classic  punishment  in  the  Occident 
since  the  seventeenth  century.'  When  a  man  is  incarcerated, 
he  is  deprived  of  all  his  customary  and  chosen  satisfactions. 
He  can  no  longer  do  what  pleases  himself,  and  he  must 
do  what  he  is  commanded.  If  he  has  been  idle  and  para- 
sitic, he  finds  regular  industry  at  first  irksome  and  mono- 
tonous. Loss  of  freedom  is  the  sum  of  all  losses  and  pains. 
His  labor  does  not  enrich  him,  but  the  product  goes  to 
others. 

3.  The  death  penalty  is  an  inheritance  from  ages  when 
capital  punishment  was  inflicted  for  almost  all  offences 
which  made  a  man  a  nuisance  to  his  neighbors.  It  is 
retained  in  some  States,  and  totally  abolished  in  others,  by 
law,  as  in  Italy,  Wisconsin,  Michigan,  or  by  executive 
action,  as  in  Belgium. 

Everywhere  the  use  of  the  extreme  penalty  has  de- 
clined; and  it  is  now  practically  applied  only  in  case  of 
murder  of  very  horrible  form.  Some  of  the  reasons  many 
of  us  oppose  the  death  penalty,  are:  It  is  totally  unneces- 
sary; life  imprisonment  is  sufficient  to  protect  society  and 
to  deter  men  from  murder.  It  seems  to  us  inhuman  to  kill 
a  man  when  he  is  wholly  in  our  power.  If  he  is  attacking 
us  armed  to  kill,  we  have  no  hesitation  in  taking  his  life 
to  defend  ourselves  or  our  families  or  neighbors.  But, 
when  the  murderer  is  once  disarmed  and  helpless,  necessity 
no  longer  calls  for  his  life.  The  fact  that  the  man  has 
done  a  brutal  and  atrocious  deed,  is  not  a  good  reason 

'  F.  H.  Wines,  Punishment  and  Reformation. 


POLICY  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  ANTI-SOCIAL  65 

for  a  great  and  moral  state  to  imitate  him.  We  are  opposed 
to  capital  punishment,  because  it  is  irreparable.  Now  and 
then  a  man  has  been  put  to  death  by  hanging  and  after 
it  was  too  late,  it  has  been  proved  that  he  was  innocent 
of  the  deed.  Judicial  killing,  it  seems  to  us,  tends  to 
increase  the  dominance  of  revengeful  and  animal  passions 
in  a  community,  and  so  to  perpetuate  the  evils  which 
punishments  should  diminish. 

4.  In  recent  years,  in  the  Occident,  two  measures 
have  found  more  frequent  and  general  application,  within 
certain  limits  and  for  certain  categories  of  offenders.  They 
both  illustrate  the  tendency  to  apply  educational  principles 
in  the  administration  of  the  criminal  law,  —  probation  and 
parole.  I  shall  speak  chiefly  of  their  operation  in  the 
United  States,  because  there  I  have  had  better  opportunities 
of  observing  their  results,  and  in  that  country  they  have 
been  more  fully  developed  than  elsewhere. 

a)  Probation,  especially  of  "first  offenders",  or  per- 
sons who,  though  guilty  of  some  transgression,  are  not  as 
yet  habitual  criminals.  The  prison  is  disgraceful,  and 
lowers  self-respect.  No  upright  man  can  spend  even  one 
night  in  a  cell  without  some  loss  of  moral  courage,  some 
diminution  of  confidence.  Often  it  is  impossible  for  a 
"jailbird",  even  if  innocent,  to  get  a  position  and  earn  a 
living  where  he  has  resided.  A  few  months  in  prison 
means  financial  ruin  to  a  man  who  has  held  positions  of 
trust.  A  mechanic  or  laborer  leaves  his  family  without 
their  usual  support  and  they  may  be  reduced  to  beggary. 
Whenever  it  is  possible  to  avoid  it,  therefore,  men  should 
not  be  arrested  and  imprisoned,  unless  they  are  certainly 
anti-social  at  heart  and  dangerous.  By  placing  an  offender 
on  probation  he  is  made  to  feel  the  seriousness  of  his 
wrong,  and,  if  he  is  morally  weak,  he  can  be  supervised 
and  directed.  The  court  receives  reports  from  him  and 
from  the  probation  officer  or  his  bondsman,  and  may  send 

5 


66  BARROWS  LECTURES 

him  to  prison  after  all,  if  milder  measures  fail;  but  the 
fortunes  of  the  man  depend  upon  himself.  The  man  in 
prison  can  earn  little,  if  anything,  but  if  he  is  out  on  pro- 
bation, he  can  go  on  at  his  usual  occupation  and  his  earn- 
ings are  not  cut  off;    the  tie  to  his  family  is  not  broken. 

b)  The  parole  system  is  similar  in  principle  to  the 
probation  system,  only  it  comes  after  serving  a  certain  time 
in  prison,  instead  of  taking  the  place  of  imprisonment. 
The  paroled  man,  after  a  period  of  good  conduct,  is 
brought  before  the  parole  board  and  agrees  to  abide  by 
the  terms  imposed.  A  position  is  found  for  him;  some 
citizen  promises  to  befriend  him;  and  a  parole  agent  of 
the  State  supervises  his  conduct,  helps  him  to  keep  his 
place,  and  encourages  him  in  his  good  resolutions.  He 
must  not  associate  with  bad  characters;  he  must  be  in- 
dustrious; and  he  must  report  his  work  and  earnings. 
After  some  months  or  years  of  this  "conditional  and  super- 
vised liberty"  he  may  be  set  absolutely  free.  In  any  case, 
he  cannot  be  restrained  beyond  the  maximum  period  named 
in  the  law  for  his  offence. 

It  is  evident  that  the  success  of  these  systems  of 
probation  and  parole  depend  greatly  on  their  administration. 
There  is  no  magical  influence  in  a  mechanism;  those  who 
train  the  convict  for  liberty  must  be  men  of  intelligence, 
character,  optimism,  tact,  patience. 

5.  Restitution.  Some  experiments  have  been  tried 
with  the  method  of  requiring  the  malefactor,  as  one  con- 
dition of  discharge  from  custody,  to  make  restitution  to 
the  injured  party,  so  far  as  possible,  for  damaged  interests. 
There  is  a  double  advantage  in  this  course ;  it  tends  to 
make  the  public  have  a  deeper  respect  for  law  and  courts 
and  it  has  a  good  influence  on  the  offender.  It  probably 
also  tends  to  act  as  a  deterrent  influence,  since  burglars 
and  thieves  realize  that  they  cannot  retain  their  booty  by 
simply  serving  a  sentence,  but  must  both  suffer  the  penalty 


POLICY  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  ANTI-SOCIAL  67 

of  outraged  law  and  also  yield  up  the  fruits  of  their  crime 
to  the  wronged  party. 

6.  Institutions.  There  is  general  agreement  that  an 
institution  should  be  avoided  as  far  as  possible,  and  in 
recent  years,  great  progress  has  been  made  in  inventing 
and  testing  substitutes  for  incarceration.  There  are  not  a 
few  intelligent  men  who  think  that  no  prison  of  any  kind 
can  be  made  a  place  of  reformation,  that  the  conditions  of 
life  are  such  as  to  make  improvement  of  character  there 
hopeless.  But  this  attitude  of  discouragement  is  not  general 
and  has  only  a  moderate  degree  of  influence.  Caustic 
criticism  of  the  jail  and  state  prisons  does  serve  the  good 
purpose  of  calling  attention  to  the  superior  benefits  of 
probation.  Yet  the  institution,  for  a  long  time  to  come, 
will  be  a  necessity.  Some  men  must  be  placed  where 
they  can  be  controlled,  until  they  learn  self-control;  and 
society  cannot  give  liberty  to  men  so  long  as  they  abuse 
their  freedom  to  the  damage  of  orderly  citizens. 

First  of  all,  we  must  insist  on  a  classification  of  de- 
linquents and  a  corresponding  gradation  of  institutions. 
The  wayward  children  require  little  restraint,  and  can 
generally  be  managed  in  selected  family  homes  or  in 
temporary  schools  while  they  are  being  trained  for  normal 
family  life.  Such  temporary  schools  are  a  necessity,  and 
they  must  be  provided  in  every  state  or  city. 

For  rebellious  and  intractable  youth,  boys  and  girls, 
special  schools  are  necessary  for  a  period  of  special  edu- 
cation. Many  such  young  persons  cannot  be  admitted  to 
good  homes  without  a  period  of  moral  and  physical 
quarantine  and  discipline;  nor  can  they  be  permitted  to 
remain  in  the  domestic  and  neighborhood  surroundings 
which  have  caused  their  fall.  For  most  such  persons  a 
village  of  cottages  in  the  open  country,  with  occupations 
in  house,  school,  farm,  garden,  and  shops,  is  the  best 
situation  for  training.     Usually,  walls,  locks,  and  gratings 


68 


BARROWS  LECTURES 


are  not  necessary  when  the  group  is  distant  from  the  places 
where  intrusion  of  base  city  characters  is  to  be  feared. 
Considerable  liberty  can  be  given  without  danger  of  abuse. 
Reformatories.  When  we  come  to  young  offenders 
from  about  the  eighteenth  to  the  twenty-sixth  year,  we 
have  a  different  problem.  Excluding  from  present  con- 
sideration those  for  whom  disciplinary  probation  is  an 
available  method  and  sufficient  restraint,  we  come  to  large 
groups  of  young  men  and  young  women  who  require  a 
special  regimen  which  has  been  worked  out  with  great 
skill  in  certain  institutions.  Mr.  Z.  R.  Brockway,  of  Elmira 
Reformatory,  is  the  most  distinguished  representative  of 
this  system.  ^  He  did  not  originate  all  the  parts  of  the 
system,  but  he  combined  them  and  made  them  work  with 
great  success.  In  such  a  Reformatory,  we  find  a  thorough 
study  of  the  physical,  mental,  and  moral  condition  of  each 
prisoner;  a  systematic  course  of  exercise,  bathing,  and  diet 
to  bring  the  body  into  the  best  possible  condition  of  health 
and  vigor;  military  drill  for  securing  an  erect,  soldierly 
carriage  and  the  self-respect  which  is  induced  by  a  manly 
bearing;  a  series  of  practice-exercises  in  manual  training 
and  special  trade-lessons  to  give  a  man  the  skill  and 
industrious  habit  which  will  enable  him  to  live  without 
theft;  the  schools  of  letters  and  morals  to  quicken  the 
intellect,  sharpen  the  moral  judgment  and  multiply  the 
wholesome  interests  of  the  prisoner.  When  the  young 
man  has  thus  been  trained,  and  has  proved  himself  worthy 
of  confidence  by  steady  industry,  he  is  released  on  parole, 
and  finally,  set  free  altogether.  But  at  every  step,  his 
freedom  and  privileges  depend  upon  his  own  conduct. 
He  carries  the  key  to  the  outward  opening  door,  and  can 


'  Z.  R.  Brockway,  Fifty  Years 
of  Prison  Service,  1912,  an  autobio- 
graphy.   The  Borstal  system  in  Eng- 


land is  similar  in  purpose  and  method. 
Paul  Herr,  Das  moderne  ameri- 
kanische  Verbesserungssystem,  1907. 


POLICY  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  ANTI-SOCIAL  69 

be  free  when  he  chooses;  that  is,  when  he  chooses  to  be- 
have as  a  good  citizen. 

The  so-called  "indeterminate  sentence",  or  some  equi- 
valent, is  absolutely  essential  to  an  effective  reformatory 
system.  The  reason  is  obvious  to  any  one  v/ho  knows 
human  nature.  If  a  prisoner  knows  that  he  must  stay  a 
certain  period  of  months  or  years,  however  upright  his 
behavior,  and  that  he  will  be  entirely  free  at  the  end  of 
that  period,  no  matter  how  lawless  he  may  be  in  prison, 
it  is  difficult  to  reform  him;  he  can  be  kept  in  order  only 
by  severe  and  cruel  punishments.  If,  on  the  contrary,  he 
knows  that  every  act  of  misconduct  is  recorded  against 
him  and  will  prolong  his  penal  servitude,  and  that  every 
month  of  good  conduct  is  recorded  in  his  favor  and  will 
hasten  his  day  of  liberation,  he  co-operates  naturally  and 
instinctively  with  the  administrators  of  the  reformatory. 
Furthermore,  he  realizes  that  the  guards  and  superintendent 
have  no  other  purpose  than  to  help  him  make  himself 
worthy  of  freedom;  and  as  they  represent  the  State  and 
its  law,  he  gradually  reconciles  himself  to  respect  for  the 
institutions  of  society,  and  is  no  longer  a  dangerous  rebel. 
When  the  manifest  purpose  of  the  prison  is  still  mere 
retribution,  the  prisoner  soon  discovers  it,  and  it  poisons 
his  soul;  it  keeps  alive  in  his  spirit  a  desire  to  avenge 
himself  and  "get  even"  with  society. 

VI 

JUVENILE   COURTS 

Naturally,  I  am  proud  to  bear  the  message  of  the 
Juvenile  Court  to  the  Orient,  because  it  was  first  legally 
established,  in  1899,  in  my  own  city  and  by  a  circle  of  my 
personal  friends  and  co-workers  with  whom  I  conferred 
at  every  stage  of  the  development  of  this  beneficent  insti- 


70  BARROWS  LECTURES 

tution.  In  former  days,  children  over  a  certain  age  (12  or 
14  years)  who  violated  the  code  were  legally  criminals. 
But,  either  by  legal  provisions  for  "attenuating  circum- 
stances", or  by  the  clemency  of  courts,  they  were  usually 
not  at  once  arrested  and  punished.  One  of  two  evil 
results  followed:  either  the  child  or  young  person  went 
free  without  being  made  to  feel  a  sense  of  wrong-doing, 
or  he  was  thrust  into  a  prison  and  its  vile  and  depraving 
company.  Either  course  was  ruinous.  What  was  required 
was  a  prompt,  steady,  firm,  but  parental  control  of  the 
child  or  youth  who  was  falling  into  evil  ways,  and  en- 
forcement of  family  duties  of  protection,  maintenance,  and 
education.  Mr.  Charles  Collard  has  said  of  this  movement: 
"Born  in  America,  the  tribunals  for  children  have  rapidly 
passed  beyond  the  frontier  of  the  United  States  and  have 
conquered  a  part  of  the  world:  all  the  civilized  nations 
have  introduced  them  or  are  on  the  point  of  introducing 
them  into  their  judicial  organization".  (Revue  de  Droit 
Penal  et  de  Criminologie,  Fevrier,  1912.) 

The  Juvenile  Court  Law  does  not  tend  to  relieve  the 
parents  of  their  moral  and  legal  obligations,  but  rather 
enforces  these  when  the  father  and  mother  are  neglectful. 
After  a  time  of  experiment,  it  was  found  that  some  parents, 
especially  poor  widows,  who  were  obliged  to  earn  a  living 
outside  the  home,  were  financially  unable  to  watch  over 
their  children  and  prevent  them  from  growing  up  lawless. 
Private  charity,  in  many  cases,  paid  the  poor  mother,  so  she 
could  stay  at  home  and  not  be  compelled  to  neglect  her 
household  in  order  to  earn  a  living  or  send  her  children 
to  an  institution.  One  of  our  States  (Illinois)  has  recently 
gone  a  step  further  and  given  the  judge  authority  to  pay 
a  pension  to  indigent  mothers  in  such  conditions.  They 
can  now  remain  at  home  and  keep  their  little  ones  in 
school,  until  they  are  old  enough  to  be  breadwinners  and 
help  her. 


POLICY  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  ANTI-SOCIAL  71 

Essential  features  of  the  Juvenile  Court.  —  1.  A  sepa- 
rate court-room  must  be  provided,  so  that  children  may 
not  be  forced  into  contact  with  the  ordinary  crow^d  of 
curiosity-seekers  who  frequently  linger  about  the  scene  of 
criminal  trials.  By  holding  the  hearings  in  a  room  of  more 
familiar  character,  without  the  terrifying  pomp  of  regular 
criminal  trials,  the  child  is  not  made  to  feel  that  he  is  an 
outcast  and  a  villain. 

The  Juvenile  Court  apartments  should  assure  freedom 
from  that  publicity  which  makes  the  culprit  imagine  him- 
self to  be  the  hero  of  some  famous  drama,  admired  and 
praised  by  wondering  comrades  as  a  brave  and  daring  ad- 
venturer. The  very  quiet  and  serious  dignity  of  the  judge 
makes  the  boy  confide  in  him,  and  removes  the  lad  from 
the  malign  influence  of  the  "gangs",  whose  standards  are 
vulgar,  narrow,  and  debasing. 

This  court  must  have  under  its  control  certain  detention 
rooms  where  children  may  be  temporarily  kept  under 
observation  and  apart  from  demoralizing  influences  until 
the  court  can  gather  the  information  necessary  for  a  wise 
judgment.  It  is  a  crying  sin  against  children  to  place  them 
in  a  jail,  even  though  it  be  in  a  separate  department. 
The  associations  are  damaging  to  the  reputation  and 
the  self-respect  of  the  young,  and  strongly  suggest  to 
them  the  idea  of  casting  in  their  lot  with  the  enemies  of 
order. 

2.  The  most  important  factor  is  the  judge  of  the 
Juvenile  Court.  A  layman  should  not  be  chosen,  at  least 
for  the  head  of  the  court.  While  the  procedure  is  simple 
and  untechnical,  it  must  be  legal  beyond  question,  and  no 
person  not  learned  in  the  law  can  be  sure  that  his 
decisions  conform  to  fundamental  law  and  include  con- 
sideration for  all  rights  in  controversy.  There  is  no 
objection  to  having  as  associates  both  men  and  women 
of  intelligence  and  training,  if  the  customs  of  a  country 


72 


BARROWS  LECTURES 


make  this  desirable. '  For  the  examination  of  girls  in- 
volved in  sexual  delinquency,  a  trained  and  mature  woman 
may  well  act  as  the  representative  of  the  judge,  under  his 
legal  instructions. 

3.  About  the  judge  of  each  Juvenile  Court,  if  many 
cases  are  involved,  must  be  gathered  a  corps  of  "probation 
officers".  These  are  men  and  women,  who  should  be 
chosen  by  the  judge  and  be  under  his  control,  and  who 
should  aid  him  in  securing  information  about  the  family 
and  in  carrying  out  the  course  of  treatment  which  he 
decides  is  best  for  child,  parents,  and  the  public. 

In  a  large  town  or  city,  where  the  business  of  the  court 
is  heavy,  there  must  be  one  or  more  salaried  probation 
officers,  in  sufficient  number  to  make  sure  that  nothing  is 
neglected.  Volunteer  visitors,  unpaid,  may  also  be  used  in 
particular  cases;  but  their  service  is  not  always  reliable, 
and  they  must  be  carefully  supervised  by  the  chief 
probation  officers. 

4.  The  psychologist  of  the  court.  The  judge  should 
act  upon  expert  information.  The  physical  and  psychical 
nature  of  the  child,  his  domestic  surroundings,  his  previous 
habits  and  conduct  should  be  carefully  and  systematically 
studied  by  persons  trained  in  the  psychological  laboratory. 
A  medical  officer  is  often  desirable  for  passing  on  morbid 
states  of  the  pupils. 

VII 

POLICY  OF  PREVENTION  ' 

It  has  become  clear  to  many  careful  observers  that  the 
entire  penal  code  and  prison  system,  no  matter  how  well 


'  In  Norway  and  Sweden  judicial 
forms  are  abandoned  altogether  and 
a  neighborhood  council  of  advisors 
are  authorized  to  have  charge  of 
juvenile  offenders. 


^  C  R.  Henderson,  Agencies  and 
Methods  of  Prevention,  Russell  Sage 
Foundation,  1910. 


POLICY  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  ANTI-SOCIAL  73 

administered,  must  fail  to  reach  the  most  general  and  pro- 
found causes  of  crime  and  vice.  They  all  fail,  in  some 
measure,  because  they  come  too  late. 

The  criminal  law  and  its  administration  cannot  punish 
merely  on  suspicion,  nor  because  a  person  has  an  ugly, 
deformed,  brutal  physiognomy  and  looks  like  a  thief  or 
murderer.  No  man  can  be  legally  punished  without  positive 
proof  that  he  personally  has  committed  an  action  which  is 
defined  in  the  law,  with  a  penalty  attached  for  such  com- 
mission. 

And  yet  the  authorities  of  a  city  or  village  may  know, 
if  they  desire  to  know  and  take  pains  to  learn,  that  certain 
persons  are  living  in  such  associations  and  conditions  as  will 
almost  certainly  be  their  ruin,  unless  the  habits  and  asso- 
ciations can  be  broken  up  and  new  interests  aroused. 

The  Occident  has  grown  very  sensitive  about  inter- 
fering with  the  liberty  of  adults,  because,  in  the  past,  tyrants 
and  oppressors  have  abused  their  power  of  control  and 
punishment,  and  because  a  wide  range  of  liberty  is  neces- 
sary for  the  best  development  of  character. 

The  strategic  place  to  make  a  stand  against  the  com- 
mon foe  is  not  at  the  threshold  of  the  home,  but  on  the 
fortified  frontier.  When  the  whelming  ocean  pours  over 
the  dike,  resistance  with  a  broom  at  the  church-door  is 
futile.  Resistance  to  criminality  must  begin  in  the  feelings, 
habits,  beliefs,  relations  of  the  people;  the  struggle  in  the 
prison  is  too  late;  the  mischief  is  done;  the  real  causes 
of  criminality  lie  not  there,  but  in  want  of  fraternal  affection 
and  civil  respect,  and  common  justice  in  the  great  wide 
world  of  industry,  politics,  culture. 

Crime  is  prevented  by  the  exercise  of  universal  justice, 
in  all  relations  of  life.  When  the  multitudes  of  the  toiling 
poor  see  that  the  nation  has  resolved  to  protect  their  rights, 
to  guard  their  health,  to  educate  their  children,  to  restrain 
the  greed  of  landlords  and  employers,  to  secure  them  judi- 


74  BARROWS  LECTURES 

cial  hearing  speedily  and  without  cost,  to  insure  their  in- 
come in  times  of  accident,  disease,  invalidism,  old  age, 
unemployment,  and  support  of  wife  and  children  in  case 
of  untimely  death  of  the  father, — then  the  multitudes  will 
be  more  inclined  to  love  and  respect  the  law  of  their 
country,  and  crime  will  diminish. 

Crime  is  anti-social  conduct  which  is  so  flagrant  as 
to  attract  attention,  while  the  actors  fail  to  escape  detection 
and  conviction.  Crime,  apart  from  the  deeds  of  irrespon- 
sible weaklings  and  abnormals,  is  simply  selfish  conduct 
of  an  aggravated  nature;  it  does  not  differ  essentially  from 
any  other  expression  of  intense  selfishness. 

In  all  lands,  in  varying  forms,  there  is  class  conflict 
of  interests.  Men  who  are  just  and  kind  in  their  own 
family,  or  class,  or  sect  group,  do  not  feel  bound  to  be  just 
and  kind  to  persons  who  are  not  members  of  this  group. 
The  world  over,  we  can  discover  examples  of  this  group 
morality,  which  seems  to  be  a  "survival"  of  the  morality 
universal  before  political  society  came  to  be.  In  city  and 
country  alike,  men  justify  themselves  for  cheating  an  em- 
ployer, who  would  feel  ashamed  to  cheat  their  fellow-work- 
men. The  domestic  employee  sometimes  thinks  there  is 
no  moral  wrong  in  purloining  from  the  store  the  food 
materials  of  her  mistress.  The  trade  unionist  will  consider 
it  no  more  than  justice  to  destroy  the  property  of  the  com- 
pany for  which  he  works.  The  poor  often  sincerely  be- 
lieve that  it  is  almost  laudable  to  bleed  the  rich.  This 
attitude  of  mind,  after  brooding  and  discussion,  prepares 
the  will  for  peculation,  theft,  and  even  brutal  assault  with 
intent  to  kill.  Evidently  it  is  a  perilous  and  menacing 
condition,  when  a  nation  is  divided  into  hostile  camps, 
into  clans  of  persons  who  watch  each  other  with  suspicion 
and  hate,  ready  to  take  advantage  of  any  cessation  of 
equally  alert  suspicion,  fear,  and  hatred  on  the  other  side. 
There  is  no  single  cure  for  this  disease,  a  malady  which 


POLICY  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  ANTI-SOCIAL  75 

has  long  festered  in  the  souls  of  men  and  is  made  more 
virulent  by  the  controversies  of  the  ages. 

For  this  particular  cause  of  crime  there  is  no  remedy 
in  force,  in  police,  in  law.  All  depends  on  a  profound 
transformation  of  the  springs  of  action  in  the  beliefs 
and  affections  of  men  and  in  corresponding  customs  and 
conduct. 

Noblesse  oblige!  The  superior  must  make  the  advances. 
As  God  comes  down  to  men,  so  those  who  are  strong, 
rich,  learned,  influential  must  prove  their  superiority  by 
treating  the  ignorant,  the  miserable,  the  superstitious,  the 
debased,  with  kindness.  The  employer  must  sit  down  with 
elected  repesentatives  of  the  employes  and  hear  from  them 
the  occasions  for  jealousy,  dread,  hate,  distrust.  The  in- 
dustrial world  must  learn  a  lesson  from  political  world 
and  build  up  a  system  of  representative  councils.  The 
captains  of  industry  often  wound  the  sensitive  feelings  of 
their  workmen  without  knowing  it.  It  is  vastly  important 
that  the  wage-earners  shall  have  an  authorized  mode  of 
presenting  grievances.  Strikes,  mutinies,  revolt,  carnage, 
result  from  the  suppression  of  complaints.  Free,  candid 
discussion  between  representatives  of  both  sides  is  a  safety- 
valve  which  prevents  disastrous  explosions. 

Hence,  in  the  industrial  world  of  the  West,  we  have 
the  Conseils  de  Prud'hommes  in  France,  the  Industrial 
Courts  of  Germany,  the  Boards  of  Conciliation  in  the 
English-speaking  countries.  They  are  very  significant  and 
beneficent  in  oiling  the  points  of  friction  in  the  machinery 
of  the  world  of  labor  and  capital. 

Many  of  the  incitements  to  vice  and  crime  can  be 
removed  by  public  authority.  Among  these  causes  of  de- 
praved and  anti-social  conduct  may  be  mentioned  the  public- 
houses  for  the  sale  of  alcoholic  beverages  and  narcotic 
drugs,  the  open  and  unabashed  solicitation  of  unchaste 
women  in  the  streets,  the  vendors  of  obscene  and  shame- 


76  BARROWS  LECTURES 

less  papers  and  books,  the  vile  dramatic  plays  which  de- 
base character  and  kindle  the  fires  of  passion,  the  low 
dance-halls  where,  with  the  aid  of  drink  and  drugs,  young 
girls  are  lured  to  ruin, — all  these  are  gradually,  if  slowly, 
brought  under  legal  control.  The  standard  of  morality 
becomes  more  refined  and  exacting. 

Crime  is  prevented  by  the  supply  of  normal  satisfac- 
tions of  natural  desires.  Let  us  consider  some  illustrations 
of  this  principle.  The  "gang"  is  a  natural  association  of 
boys  brought  together  by  the  common  needs  of  active 
play  and  companionship.  Unguided,  these  young  persons 
of  brief  experience  and  strong  impulses  only  too  frequently 
combine  to  steal,  to  break  windows,  to  resist  policemen, 
annoy  passers,  and  even  commit  crimes  of  adventure.  They 
read  sensational  books  which  fire  their  fancy  with  lawless 
deeds  of  daring  in  which  the  criminal  is  painted  as  a 
brave  hero.  In  these  gangs  criminals  are  educated,  and 
society  suffers. 

We  have  found  that  when  settlements,  societies  of 
men,  Churches,  and  municipal  authorities  furnish  club-rooms, 
athletic  halls,  playgrounds,  shops  with  tools  for  such 
"gangs",  they  speedily  become  tame  and  honorable,  their 
activities  become  useful,  and  we  call  the  band  or  horde 
a  "club"  or  a  "class".  In  such  provision  for  youth  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  and  the  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association  have  achieved  notable  results,  with 
such  manifestly  wholesome  effects  that  shrewd  business 
men,  no  matter  what  their  creed,  have  come  to  the  fin- 
ancial support  of  these  associations  with  contributions  of 
millions  of  dollars.  It  pays  to  help  the  young  to  be  happy 
in  good  ways. 

The  action  of  the  Churches  in  preventing  crime.  The 
Church  represents  the  principle  of  antagonism  to  moral 
evil  and  of  redemption  from  evil  by  grace  incarnate  in 
kind  people  who  believe  in  the  inherent  nobility  of  human- 


POLICY  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  ANTI-SOCIAL  77 

ity  and  in  the  goodness  of  the  Universal  Father.  The 
Founder  of  Christianity,  in  His  teachings  about  the  finality 
of  divine  justice,  made  beneficence  to  prisoners  a  test  of 
loyalty  to  His  person  and  cause.  John  Howard,  Elizabeth 
Fry,  and  numerous  other  Christian  philanthropists  illustrate 
the  spirit  of  Jesus  in  the  field  of  work  for  the  fallen;  and 
societies  to  aid  prisoners  and  their  families  are  found  in 
all  European  and  American  States. 

In  recent  years,  the  Churches  have  been  led  to  think 
of  prevention  of  crime,  owing  to  the  rapid  progress  of 
social  science  in  this  direction,  since  science  lays  emphasis 
on  the  discovery  and  removal  of  causes.  The  most  effec- 
tive service  of  religious  people  in  preventing  crime  and 
vice  does  not  consist  in  direct  efforts  to  change  the  charac- 
ter of  confirmed  criminals,  but  rather  in  multiplying  the 
influences  which  elevate  the  tone  of  thinking,  recreation, 
fellowship,  and  morality  in  the  entire  community.  Every 
Church  is  a  small  society  in  which  its  members  and  their 
children  find  pure  and  noble  satisfactions:  intellectual 
stimulus  and  instruction,  artistic  enjoyment  of  music,  archi- 
tecture, pictures,  poetry,  and  often  eloquence.  In  these 
assemblies  millions  meet  to  renew  their  covenants  of  mutual 
kindness  and  helpfulness,  to  collect  money  for  lifting  the 
burdens  of  the  weak  and  despairing,  to  listen  to  warnings 
against  wrong-doing,  to  offer  worship  to  God  supreme 
and  holy.  No  one  can  tell  how  many  thousands  have  been 
turned  into  the  right  road  at  the  moment  in  youth  when 
an  unwise  choice  is  so  fatal.  There  is  a  picture  in  which 
the  artist  portrays  a  tender  child  moving  heedlessly  along 
a  perilous  path  close  to  a  terrible  precipice,  when  a  single 
misstep  would  be  death  down  in  the  awful  chasm.  The 
innocent  wondering  face  bears  no  mark  of  anxiety  about 
the  unknown  peril,  and  does  not  note  that  a  beautiful  white 
angel  treading  with  noiseless  step  the  path  behind  him, 
holds  his  strong  hand  ready  to  grasp  the  arm  of  the  child. 


78 


BARROWS  LECTURES 


should  it  stumble.  So  religion,  with  its  white-robed  ideal, 
invisible,  unrecognized,  has  kept  many  of  us  even  from 
looking  at  the  abyss  of  wickedness  and  woe.  The  Church 
has  guided  us  away  from  the  very  suggestion  of  evil  and 
filled  our  minds  with  the  visions  of  towering  and  ma- 
jestic mountain-heights  of  goodness  and  of  happy  valleys 
laughing  with  fields  and  flowers  and  bathed  in  sunshine. 
From  one  who  represents  modern  philanthropy  in  its  no- 
blest forms  of  expression  comes  this  appeal  to  the  Church 
with  an  argument  drawn  from  the  creed  which  it  professes. 
It  calls  the  whole  body  of  believers  to  follow  their  Lord 
and  to  imitate  those  who  have  already  consecrated  their  lives 
to  His  service  for  the  lowly,  the  despised,  and  the  fallen. 
"The  Christian  Church  cannot  hope  to  eradicate  the  social 
evil,  until  it  is  willing  to  fairly  make  it  the  test  of  its  reli- 
gious vitality,  to  forget  its  ecclesiastical  traditions,  to  drop 
its  cynicism  and  worldliness,  to  go  back  to  the  method 
advocated  by  Jesus  Himself  for  dealing  with  all  sinners, 
including  not  only  the  harlot,  but,  we  are  bound  to  believe, 
even  those  men  who  live  upon  her  earnings  and  whom 
we  call  every  foul  name.  The  method  of  Jesus  was  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  sheer  forgiveness,  the  overcoming  of 
the  basest  evil  by  the  august  power  of  goodness,  the  over- 
powering of  the  sinner  by  the  loving  kindness  of  his 
brethren,  the  breaking  up  of  long  entrenched  evil  by  the 
concerted  goodwill  of  society".  (Miss  Jane  Addams,  ll.  d., 
In  the  Survey,  May  4,  1912.) 

A  Chicago  judge  is  quoted  as  having  said:  "Rarely, 
almost  never,  were  the  parties  to  a  divorce  suit  active 
Church-workers."  A  Brooklyn  judge  was  quoted  as  saying 
that  "crime  now  costs  us  700,000,000  dollars  a  year,  that 
it  would  cost  us  ten  times  as  much,  if  there  were  no  Churches, 
and  that  it  would  cost  hardly  anything,  if  all  were  in  the 
Churches". 

To  a  Christian  believer  the  most  pathetic,  touching,  and 


POLICY  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  ANTI-SOCIAL  79 

persuasive  picture  in  all  history  is  that  of  the  Crucifixion. 
There  gentleness  was  crushed  by  brutality;  there  justice 
was  mocked  by  public  authority;  there  the  mob  spirit 
scoffed  at  law;  there  divine  love  was  met  by  misunder- 
standing and  requited  with  hate  and  murder.  And  there, 
with  a  prayer  of  pity  and  forgiveness  on  His  lips,  crucified 
between  two  malefactors,  the  Innocent  One  spent  His  last 
moments  of  agony  in  the  company  of  criminals.  Now  by 
that  Cross  He  conquers  the  heart  of  mankind  and  reigns 
supreme,  wherever  love  is  appreciated  and  received  as  the 
law  of  life.  By  that  tragic  scene  we  are  taught  compassion 
even  for  the  outcast  and  enemy;  our  selfishness,  our  re- 
venge, our  neglect  are  rebuked;  and  we  hear  in  the  cry 
of  the  Crucified  the  voice  of  pity  and  the  proclamation  of 
redemption. 


LECTURE  FOUR 

PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY 

SECTION  one:  public  health 

There  is  ethical  justification  of  a  public  policy  to 
protect  and  promote  public  health.  In  general  terms,  this 
has  already  been  discussed.  In  personality,  the  body  has 
an  essential  place.  The  condition  of  the  body  affects  the 
spirit  in  its  manifestations,  powers,  habits,  and  finally  its 
character.  This  is  demonstrated  in  injuries  to  the  skull, 
as  when  a  fracture  presses  the  bone  upon  the  brain  and 
transforms  an  industrious,  upright  citizen  into  a  treacherous 
criminal.  "Feeble-mindedness"  has  its  basis  in  an  incom- 
plete development  of  the  brain;  frequently  it  is  hereditary; 
often  it  leads  to  prostitution  and  hence  becomes  the  cause 
of  temptation  and  moral  debasement  of  boys  and  men. 
The  influence  of  body  on  soul  is  manifest  in  the  effects 
of  drugs,  as  alcohol  and  opium,  which  frequently  change 
a  respectable  and  kindly  person  into  a  liar,  a  beggar,  a 
thief,  or  a  murderer.  Even  lingering  illness  and  mal- 
nutrition show  their  depressing  influence  in  feeble  will, 
peevishness  and  spitefulness,  and  in  inability  to  take  up 
the  duties  of  domestic  relations  and  of  business.  The 
exact  relations  of  mind  and  body  need  not  be  discussed 
here;  the  outstanding  facts,  open  to  the  observation  of  the 
world,  are  sufficient  for  our  purpose. 

It  must  be  sharply  pointed  out  here  that  our  chief 
emphasis  is  on  the  organization  and  working  of  measures. 
We  are  not  attempting,  just  now,  to  prove  that  we  ought 
to  promote  general  health,  to  save  life,  to  prolong  life,  to 
make  it  more  vigorous  and  effective.  The  Western  World 
generally  assumes  this  as  a  duty;  although  there  are  a  few 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY         81 

systematic  sceptics  and  a  very  large  number  of  practical 
infidels,  —  /.  e.  those  who  are  indifferent  to  our  creed  of  the 
worth  of  health;  and  superstitions  linger. 

There  are  a  few  in  the  Occident  who  reduce  their 
practical  indifference  to  human  welfare  to  a  philosophy  of 
the  uselessness  of  all  life :  it  is  better  —  they  say  —  not  to 
be  born  at  all;  if  born,  to  become  extinct  as  easily  as 
possible;  all  life  being  illusion.  But  we  do  not  take  these 
speculators  seriously;  for  they  are  not  serious.  Usually, 
they  are  people  in  comfortable  financial  circumstances  who 
have  leisure  to  cultivate  eccentricities,  and  talk  misery 
over  their  wine  and  fats.  Those  who  are  trying  to  make 
some  little  corner  clean,  wholesome,  and  cheerful  have  no 
time  for  such  oddities. 

There  are  others  who  think  life  has  value  only  in  the 
case  of  superior  men  (superman);  all  the  rest  are  useless, 
except  as  they  contribute  to  the  power  and  delight  of  the 
superman.  These  furnish  a  philosophy  for  the  practical  con- 
duct of  the  oppressor  —  for  the  manufacturer,  for  example, 
who  cares  nothing  for  his  employes  and  treats  them  as 
parts  of  his  machinery  for  making  profits.  In  the  Western 
World  it  is  socially  impossible  to  avow  such  a  creed  in 
public,  without  contempt  and  aversion;  though  we  must 
confess,  it  has  only  too  much  influence  in  actual  affairs. 

The  tendency,  however,  is  to  assume  that  all  lives 
have  worth  and  that  it  is  duty  to  serve  and  enlarge  them. 
We  cannot  stop  here  to  argue  whether  the  "ethical 
justification"  of  these  measures  belongs  to  "science"  or  to 
"philosophy".  That  is  an  important  question;  but  its 
treatment  belongs  elsewhere. 

If  any  man  says:  "I  do  not  believe  that  I,  or  any  other 
person,  or  any  community,  is  under  any  moral  obligation 
to  make  efforts  and  sacrifices  to  produce  a  healthy, 
vigorous,  and  powerful  race",  I  cannot  now  stop  to  argue 
with  him.     One  thing,   however,   seems   sure,   that   the 

6 


82  BARROWS  LECTURES 

acceptance  of  such  a  creed  as  that  has  disastrous  results; 
its  tendency  is  to  extinguish  the  people  who  receive  it. 
The  community  which  really  believes  such  a  teaching,  so 
as  to  act  on  it,  will  dig  its  own  grave  with  this  doctrine 
for  a  spade.  Such  a  philosophy  will  die  with  its  teachers 
and  their  followers  and  leave  the  "philosophy"  of  health 
in  possession  of  this  planet.  That  is  what  is  happening 
before  our  eyes.  The  people  who  believe  in  health  and 
in  scientific  ways  of  taking  care  of  it  will  possess  the  earth. 
But  we  begin  with  the  creed  of  moral  obligation  in  relation 
to  physical  well-being,  as  a  premise  accepted  by  the  Western 
World, — perhaps  on  the  ground  of  merely  "common  sense" 
philosophy,  which  may  not  endure  theoretical  criticism, 
but  works  well  when  fairly  tried. 

Is  there  any  such  conflict  between  science  and  philo- 
sophy? Must  we  remain  "agnostic"  about  the  deepest 
interest  of  existence,  the  very  foundation  of  conduct?  Can 
we  know  only  facts  and  series  of  facts  and  their  causal 
connections?  Are  our  beliefs  as  to  the  reasons  of  conduct, 
as  to  right  and  wrong,  as  to  the  worth  of  life,  to  be 
remanded  to  some  region  of  irrationality,  nescience?  It 
is  impossible  here  to  pursue  this  inquiry. 

Perhaps  we  can  get  at  the  answer  in  our  more 
practical  way  by  showing  that  our  assumption  is  a  good 
"working  hypothesis";  that  it  will  work,  that  it  fits  in 
with  the  order  of  the  universe ;  that  it  makes  thinking  clearer. 
When  we  have  constructed  a  wise  and  good  world,  it  is  easier 
to  believe  in  a  good  Mind  in  control  of  all.  Perhaps  a 
reasonable  certainty  ought  not  to  be  expected  apart  from 
endeavor  and  self-devotion  to  the  ideals. 

Only  he  earns  freedom  and  existence 

Who  daily  conquers  them  anew.    (Gcethe,  Faust.) 

The  modern  ideal  of  the  Occident  includes  robust, 
vigorous  bodily  condition,  joy  of  activity,  sense  of  efficiency. 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY         83 

Robert  Browning  (in  Rabbi  Ben  Ezra)  has  thus  voiced 
this  ideal: 


To  man,  propose  this  test  — 

Thy  body  at  its  best, 

How  far  can  that  project  thy  soul  on  its  lone  way? 

Yet  gifts  should  prove  their  use : 

I  own  the  Past  profuse 

Of  power  each  side,  perfection  every  turn. 

Eyes,  Ears  took  in  their  dole, 

Brain  treasured  up  the  whole ; 

Should  not  the  heart  beat  once  "How  good  to  live  and  learn?" 

For  pleasant  is  this  flesh; 

Our  soul,  in  its  rose-mesh 

Pulled  ever  to  the  earth,  still  yearns  for  rest:. 

Let  us  not  always  say, 

"Spite  of  this  flesh  to-day 

I  strove,  made  head,  gained  ground  upon  the  whole!" 

As  the  bird  wings  and  sings, 

Let  us  cry,  "All  good  things 

Are  ours,  nor  soul  helps  flesh  more,  now,  than  flesh  helps  soul!' 


The  value  of  vigorous  vitality  is  illustrated  in  every 
country  and  at  all  crises  of  existence.  It  is  a  tragedy 
when  the  brilliant  student  consumes  his  energy  and  his 
life  goes  out  in  a  flash,  when  he  should  be  serving  his 
town  or  his  nation  for  a  half  century. 

See  how  the  young  wife  looks  forward  with  joy  and 
pride  to  the  hour  when  she  shall  look  into  the  loving  eyes 
of  her  babe, —  and  there  she  lies,  the  cold  infant  in  her  arms, 
too  weak  to  endure  the  strain  of  this  high  calling  of 
maternity. 

There  also  a  faithful  man  has  toiled  to  secure  a  modest 
livelihood  for  his  wife  and  children,  and  in  full  strength 
is  poisoned  by  the  vapors  of  his  workplace  and  falls  a 
victim  to  disease.     His  little  ones  are  huncry,  dwarfed  in 

6* 


84 


BARROWS  LECTURES 


body,  and  deprived  of  education,  and  his  untrained  boys 
become  criminal. 

Our  Christian  Gospel  has  a  very  clear  and  definite 
message  on  the  subject  of  health.  Jesus  Himself  w^as  a 
minister  of  healing,—  no  matter  what  construction  may  be 
put  on  the  miraculous  element  in  the  story.  His  holy  life 
sanctified  the  flesh.  His  faithful  apostle,  Paul,  taught  that 
our  bodies  are  the  temple  of  Deity,  and  that  Christ  is  the 
Redeemer  of  the  body. 

The  Body  is  sacred.  As  Carlyle  (Sartor  Resartus) 
said :  "For  whether  thou  bear  a  sceptre  or  a  sledge-hammer, 
art  not  thou  alive;  is  not  this  thy  brother  alive?  'There 
is  but  one  temple  in  the  world,'  says  Novalis,  'and  that 
temple  is  the  Body  of  Man.  Nothing  is  holier  than  this 
high  Form.  Bending  before  men  is  a  reverence  done  to 
this  Revelation  in  the  Flesh.  We  touch  Heaven,  when  we 
lay  our  hands  on  a  human  Body.' 

"Whereas  the  English  Johnson  only  bowed  to  every 
Clergyman,  or  man  with  a  shovel-hat,  I  would  bow  to 
every  Man  with  any  sort  of  hat,  or  with  no  hat  whatever. 
Is  not  he  a  Temple,  then;  the  visible  Manifestation  and 
Impersonation  of  the  Divinity?" 

In  the  struggle  for  health  and  against  disease,  the 
world  is  kin,  and  we  can  join  hands  as  brothers  in  a  holy 
alliance.  Shakespeare  (Merch.  of  Yen.  Hi),  in  the  speech 
of  Shy  lock,  taught  this  universal  truth:  "I  am  a  Jew.  Hath 
not  a  Jew  eyes?  Hath  not  a  Jew  hands,  organs,  dimensions, 
senses,  affections,  passions?  Fed  with  the  same  food,  hurt 
with  the  same  weapons,  subject  to  the  same  diseases, 
healed  by  the  same  means,  warmed  and  cooled  by  the 
same  winter  and  summer,  as  a  Christian  is?" 

The  field  of  public  hygiene  is  of  vast  extent  and 
importance.  A  partial  analysis  of  the  topics  of  discussion 
before  the  Fifteenth  International  Congress  of  Hygiene  and 
Demography  (1912)  will  help  one  to  form  some  conception 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY         85 

of  how  extended  and  important  this  field  of  study  has 
become.^ 

'  Programme  of  Preventive  Medicine  in  the  West. 
I.     The  scientific  study  of  the  facts,  demojjraphy  and  vital  statistics; 
the  records  of  marriages,  births,  deaths,  and  the  causes  of  death. 

II.  The  scientific  study  of  causes:  for  example  of  depressing  conditions, 
crowding,  malnutrition,  defective  housing,  debasing  habits  and  customs; 
poisons;  infections  and  microbial  enemies  of  human  life. 

III.  General  hygiene :  principles  and  approved  measures  in  relation  to 
food,  exercise,  cleanliness,  ventilation. 

IV.  Hygiene  of  infancy  and  childhood,  in  home  and  school. 

V.  Industrial  and  occupational  hygiene :  physiology  and  pathology  of 
work  and  fatigue;  neuroses  of  fatigue;  eye-strain;  compressed  air  (caisson 
diseases);  intense  heat;  dangers  of  miners  and  tunnel  workers;  effect  of 
electricity  on  health;  metal  workers;  brass  poisoning;  mercury;  plumbism; 
anthrax. 

Safety  devices ;  occupational  diseases  clinic  (as  at  Milan,  Italy). 

Influence  of  various  occupations  on  women  and  on  children.  Tene- 
ment house  manufactures.  Alcohol  as  a  predisposing  cause  of  disease. 
Venereal  diseases. 

VI.  Control  of  infectious  diseases:  Bacillus-carriers.  Aerial  and  con- 
tact infection.  Flies  and  other  insects  as  carriers  of  disease.  Artificial  im- 
munization:  vaccines  (sniall-pox,  typhoid,  etc.),  control  of  tuberculosis. 

VII.  State  and  municipal  hygiene.     Boards  of  Health: 
Water-supply:    sources  and  their  protection;    purification  by  storage, 

biological  and  chemical  processes.  Disposal  of  waste  by  sewage  and  otlier 
devices.  Municipal  and  national  control  of  plague.  Air-pollution  and 
ventilation.  City-planning  to  secure  light,  air,  space,  parks.  Housing  prob- 
lems.    Rural  hygiene.     Milk-supply.     Pure  food. 

Social  insurance  against  loss  of  income  by  accident,  sickness,  invali- 
dism, in  relation  to  public  hygiene. 

Race  hygiene  and  eugenics. 

Prevention  of  inebriety. 

VIII.  Hygiene  of  traffic  and  transportation :  street  traffic  and  tramways ; 
noise  and  dirt.  Roadbeds  and  stations.  Railway  cars  and  sleeping  cars: 
disinfection;  prevention  of  accidents;  food  and  water  for  the  travelling  pub- 
lic; prevention  of  spread  of  communicable  diseases. 

Lake  and  river  trafiic;  water-borne  diseases.  Ships  and  shipping; 
quarantine  in  ports.     Supervision  of  emigration  and  immigration. 

IX.  Military,  naval,  and  tropical  hygiene. 

X.  Institutes  for  scientific  investigation,  and  improvement  of  instruction 
and  training  of  medical  officers;  preventive  medicine. 

See  the  programme  and  proceedings  of  the  International  Congress 
on  Hygiene  and  Demography  (1912);  and  publications  of  the  Dresden  Ex- 
position of  Hygiene  (1911). 


86  BARROWS  LECTURES 

From  this  long  and  impressive  catalogue  of  investiga- 
tions, to  which  thousands  of  men  and  women  of  the  highest 
order  of  ability  have  consecrated  their  lives,  we  may  select 
a  few  subjects  to  illustrate  the  significance  of  public  hy- 
giene in  the  programme  of  social  progress  in  our  century. 

It  affords  me  peculiar  satisfaction  to  note  that  the 
medical  profession  in  India  is  true  to  its  noble  traditions, 
and  that  its  past  achievements  here  in  the  East  furnish  the 
solid  basis  for  a  hope  of  its  future  conquest  of  disease 
among  these  teeming  millions  of  our  brother  men.  At 
every  turn  I  find  the  evidences  of  the  universal  brother- 
hood of  ideas  in  science  and  art,  all  consecrated  to  the 
good  of  humanity.  What  I  shall  outline  as  a  policy  of  the 
West  is  already  well  started  in  Japan,  China,  and  India;  and 
I  would  be  glad  to  encourage  and  cheer  some  of  those  who 
are  engaged  in  this  patriotic,  humane,  and  religious  service. 

There  must  be  hope  for  a  people  who  is  happy  in 
hearing  such  sound,  sensible,  and  reverent  counsel  as  that 
recently  uttered  by  Sir  Jamsetjee  Jijibhoy,  of  Bombay. 
Sir  Jamsetjee  said: 

It  is  creditable  to  them  that  they  frankly  made  a  minute  investi- 
gation. The  result  was  that  Dr.  Bentley's  conclusions  have  been 
found  to  be  correct.  The  Parsee  community  is  obliged  to  the  Doctor 
and  others  who  took  trouble  in  this  matter,  which  has  been  for  the 
good  of  the  community. 

Now,  what  is  the  reason  of  the  fever  being  so  largely  prevalent 
amongst  us?  The  wells  in  our  houses  seem  to  be  the  cause.  Many 
wells  of  our  cities  breed  larvae  of  certain  kinds  of  mosquitoes  which 
bite  human  beings  and  thus  give  fever,  and  thus  the  fever  spreads. 
We  must  help  the  health  authorities  in  filling  up  those  wells  which 
breed  such  larvae.  Objections  are  raised  that  waters  of  such  wells 
are  useful  for  religious  ceremonies.  Now,  we  must  use  our  common 
sense  that  religion  is  for  the  good  of  human  beings.  Our  religion 
teaches  us  to  use  well-water  for  the  reason  that  probably  there  are 
pure  springs  in  wells,  and  that  those  springs  keep  the  well-water 
purer  than  those  having  no  springs.  But  this  does  not  prove  that 
the  waters  of  all  wells  are  pure  and  that  we  must  all  use  such  water. 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY         87 

The  question  here  is  purity  and  purity  alone,  and  that  good  water 
should  be  used.  It  is  not  that  well-water,  however  bad  it  may  be 
owing  to  contamination  with  sewage  or  breeding  larvse  of  mosquitoes, 
should  be  used.  Of  course,  if  your  well-waters  are  clean  and  potable, 
and  if  the  wells  contain  good  springs,  by  all  means  use  them.  The 
municipality  does  not  force  you  to  close  such  wells.  But  to  use  the 
water  of  a  well  which  is  dirty,  in  spite  of  clean  pipe-water  available, 
for  the  sake  of  its  being  well-water,  is  against  the  teachings  of  our 
religion.  Such  preachers  bring  our  religion  and  our  community  into 
contempt  in  the  eyes  of  others. 

The  custom  of  eating  animal  food  and  the  destruction 
of  harmful  animals. 

The  question  of  eating  meat,  as  Occidentals  view  it, 
has  nothing  ritualistic  and  ceremonial  about  it;  it  is  a 
purely  physiological  problem.  Does  eating  meat  make  us 
more  efficient,  more  capable  of  serving  humanity?  We 
have  a  few  vegetarians;  but  our  medical  men,  while  ad- 
vising moderation  and  discrimination,  generally  recommend 
the  use  of  meat  diet,  for  us  and  in  our  climate;  and  they 
give  their  reasons.  Protein,  fat,  and  carbohydrates  are 
found,  of  course,  in  vegetable  foods;  but  in  meats  some  of 
the  essential  factors  are  found  in  a  more  agreeable  and 
easily  digestible  form.  Therefore,  our  moral  and  religious 
beliefs  leave  this  question  aside,  on  the  condition  of  wise 
and  temperate  use.  If  any  one  dislikes  animal  food,  for 
any  reason,  he  is  free  to  follow  his  conscience  or  his  taste. 
The  direction  of  a  competent  physician  usually  determines 
duty  in  a  particular  case. 

The  charge  of  cruelty  to  animals  involved  in  a  meat 
diet  may  justly  be  urged  against  some  methods  of  killing 
hogs,  cattle  and  sheep,  and  other  food  animals;  but  suffer- 
ing may  be  avoided  by  proper  precautions,  and  our  humane 
societies  have  been  quite  successful  in  shaping  and  enforc- 
ing laws  to  this  end. 

It  is  impossible  in  any  country  to  avoid  destroying 
animal   life  for  the  sake  of  human  life.     Tigers,  lions. 


88  BARROWS  LECTURES 

venomous  serpents,  rats,  and  vermin  must  be  v^^iped  out 
of  existence  to  preserve  mankind;  and  this  view  must  in 
the  end  prevail.  When  it  comes  to  a  question  whether 
the  human  race  or  rats  shall  possess  this  earth,  reason 
speaks  in  favor  of  the  human  race. 

I  shall  have  time  only  to  indicate  some  of  the  aims  of 
modern  public  hygiene  in  relation  to  the  depressed  and 
industrial  groups  in  Western  lands,  and  especially:  1.  the 
Infant  Welfare  Movement;  2.  the  improvement  of  dwell- 
ings of  people  in  industrial  communities;  3.  other  prob- 
lems of  urban  hygiene;  4.  hygiene  of  the  workplace  and 
the  workers;  5.  moral  hygiene. 

1  must  ask  you  to  be  patient  with  some  details  of 
concrete  requirements.  The  moral  law  never  grips  the 
conscience,  until  it  is  applied  to  actual  life,  and  life  is  some- 
thing infinitely  varied.  "Thou  shalt  do  no  murder"  is  a 
very  solemn  law,  and  communities  violate  it,  constantly 
and  without  protest,  because  of  wicked  ignorance. 

The  great  sculptor  Michael  Angelo  said:  "Perfection 
is  made  up  of  trifles,  but  perfection  is  not  a  trifle".  The 
obligations  of  a  community  to  its  members  are  as  numerous 
as  the  requirements  of  abundant  life. 

Carlyle  tells  the  story  of  a  woman  who,  neglected  by 
her  city,  proved  she  was  a  sister  to  them  by  infecting  many 
persons  with  fever.  John  Howard  found  that  public  neglect 
of  jails  in  England  permitted  "jail  fever"  to  germinate 
and  spread,  until  it  killed  sheriffs,  visitors,  jurymen  and 
judges.  Disease  is  terribly  democratic;  it  is  no  respecter 
of  persons.  The  poor  seamstress  sends  germs  of  disease 
with  the  fine  garment  to  destroy  the  first-born  in  the  man- 
sion of  the  millionaire.  We  are  never  safe,  until  we  help  our 
brother  to  be  safe.  A  good  illustration  is  the  "hook-worm 
disease".  ^ 

^Journ.  Am.  Med.  Assn.,   June  22,  1912,  pp.  1945-7.  Also  June  15, 
1902,  p.  1837. 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY         89 

In  at  least  46  countries,  with  population  of  920,000,000 
this  disease  is  general  and  widespread.  In  the  United  States 
20,000,000  are  in  infected  areas  (South  Carolina,  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Tennessee).  In  the 
southern  two-thirds  of  China  75%  of  the  population  is 
infected;    in  India  60  to  80%  are  exposed. 

"The  economic  loss  from  the  disease  is  enormous. 
A  physically  sound  coffee-picker  in  Porto  Rico  picks  500 
or  600  measures  a  day;  the  anaemic  picker  averages  from 
100  to  250  measures.  This  disease  has  lowered  the  average 
labor  efficiency  of  the  island  to  35%  or  50%  of  the 
normal."  There  is  20%  loss  in  miners  of  California;  a 
mine  employing  300  men  would  sustain  a  loss  of  %  20,000 
annually. 

What  must  be  the  loss  to  India  with  70 7o  infected! 
"What  the  disease  has  done  for  India,  Egypt,  and  China, 
it  is  now  beginning  to  do  for  the  United  States.  It  is  a 
menace  and  an  obstacle  to  all  that  makes  for  civilization. 
It  destroys  economic  efficiency  and  social  development  on 
the  one  hand,  as  it  undermines  physical  and  mental  health 
on  the  other." 

"Last  year  at  San  Francisco  a  shipload  of  Indian  coolies 
had  90 7o  infected.  Quarantine  was  established  at  once 
against  any  further  immigration  of  this  type.  Every  group 
of  Indian  coolies  in  California  is  a  center  from  which  the 

infection  is  spreading  in  that  state It  is  of  international 

significance,  and  the  measures  directed  toward  its  complete 
eradication  must  be  international  in  scope."  This  disease 
has  become  such  a  menace  to  the  wealth  and  welfare  of 
our  people  that  Mr.  John  D.  Rockefeller  gave  a  fund  of 
$1,000,000  to  investigate  its  nature  and  causes  and  for 
measures  to  reduce  and  suppress  it. 

Public  hygiene  is  a  problem  of  international  duty. 
For  hundreds  of  years  plagues  of  oriental  origin  have 
travelled  westward  along  the  lines  of  commerce,  or  re- 


90 


BARROWS  LECTURES 


ligious  pilgrimage,  or  march  of  armies,  and  devastated 
the  nations  of  Europe.  The  bubonic  plague  of  India  is 
of  vital  concern  to  us  in  America  and  our  men  of  science 
and  law  are  devising  methods  of  self-protection.  Is  it  too 
much  to  ask  of  educated  men  in  India  that  they  co-operate 
with  us,  in  brotherly  spirit,  in  the  effort  to  destroy  these 
enemies  of  mankind?  It  is  in  such  practical  deeds,  rather 
than  in  mere  poetical  and  rhetorical  panegyrics  of  fraternity, 
that  genuine  and  sincere  union  of  purpose  is  demonstrated. 

I.    Infant  Welfare. 

It  is  impossible  to  analyze  all  the  motives  which  enter 
into  the  movement  to  protect  infant  life  in  the  Western 
World.  This  movement  is,  as  yet,  by  no  means  at  the 
stage  of  triumph.  Its  representatives  are  still  in  battle 
with  evil,  and  the  conflict  is  severe,  though  the  result 
becomes  every  year  more  hopeful.  Commercial  motives, 
no  doubt,  enter  into  our  calculations,  as  one  can  see  from 
the  arguments  drawn  from  the  average  dollar  value  of 
each  human  life.  The  natural  animal  instinct  of  tenderness 
for  helpless  offspring,  which  in  human  parents  has  been 
glorified  by  higher  elements,  plays  an  important  role; 
and  to  this  appeal  can  always  be  made.  To  all  this  may 
be  added  the  teachings  of  Him  who  called  little  children 
to  His  arms  for  a  blessing  and  who  said,  "Suffer  the  little 
ones  to  come  to  me".  "It  is  not  the  will  of  your  Father 
that  one  of  these  little  ones  perish." 

The  history  of  Church  charity  shows  that  the  custom 
of  the  ancient  Greek,  Roman,  and  Teutonic  world,  of  ex- 
posing unwanted  infants  to  death,  was  regarded  with 
horror  by  the  Christians,  and  measures  were  from  the  first 
taken  to  shelter  and  rear  even  the  abandoned  offspring 
of  shameful  and  unlawful  unions.  In  this  the  traditions 
and  feelings  of  the  Hebrew  people  played  a  great  part, 
for  in  that  people  children  were  highly  cherished.     One 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY         91 

thing  is  certain;  the  whole  Western  World  is  organizing 
to  prevent  infant  sickness  and  death;  that  world  cannot 
stand  with  folded  hands  and  averted  face,  while  the  innocent 
perish  in  their  helplessness. 

Swiftly  let  us  outline  the  programme  of  this  campaign 
of  mercy  led  by  modern  science, — always  remembering 
that  every  step  we  take  forward  in  the  right  direction 
reveals  to  us  better  and  more  efficient  methods  and  opens 
to  us  more  inspiring  hopes.  Faith  which  works  by  love 
and  wisdom  grows  strong  by  exercise.  Into  technical 
details  we  cannot  enter,  for  they  must  be  sought  in  the 
scientific  treatises  to  which  reference  is  given  in  the 
bibliography. 

In  the  spring  and  summer  of  1911,  I  visited  important 
cities  of  Italy,  France,  Germany,  Holland,  and  Belgium  to 
examine  the  best  methods  employed  for  preventing  the 
sickness,  weakness,  and  death  of  infants,  and  was  every- 
where afforded  all  facilities  for  the  study.  This  was  a 
continuation  of  similar  observations,  readings,  and  inter- 
views in  previous  years.  *  Reviewing  the  works  and 
publications  of  the  leading  physicians,  philanthropists  and 
governments,  the  following  measures  seem  to  meet  with  the 
approval  of  the  majority  of  experts  in  Europe  and  America: 

1.  There  are  certain  general  causes  of  infant  debility 
and  disease  which  can  be  and  ought  to  be  reduced  and 
ultimately  removed,  since  they  are  well  within  the  control 
of  human  wisdom  and  effort.  These  are:  unwholesome 
conditions  in  the  dwellings  of  the  poor,  impure  water  and 
milk,  venereal  diseases,  and  inadequate  income  with  which 
to  provide  for  the  necessities  of  life. 

2.  The  second  part  of  the  European  and  American 
programme  for  the  protection  of  infant  life  is  the  protection 
of  mothers.     That  also  is  possible  in  far  higher  degree 

'  The  studies  following  this  jour-      Journal  of  Sociology,  1911-1912. 
ney  were  published  in  the  American 


92  BARROWS  LECTURES 

than  we  have  yet  realized.  Long  before  birth  and  for 
two  years  afterwards  the  infant  depends  on  the  mother 
for  life  and  force.  All  that  affects  the  vitality  of  the  mother 
has  more  or  less  influence  on  the  growth  of  the  babe. 
More  specifically  we  can  extend,  develop,  and  improve 
the  following  practical  measures,  which  are  already  carried 
quite  far  in  one  country  or  another: 

a)  "Factory  laws",  with  an  efficient  and  well-paid 
body  of  trained  inspectors  to  see  that  they  are  enforced,  in 
response  to  a  general  and  enlightened  public  opinion.  These 
laws  and  the  administrative  regulations  under  them  relate 
to  the  physical  condition  of  the  places  where  wage-earning 
women  are  obliged  to  toil,  to  the  hours  during  which  they  can 
be  held  to  their  tasks  for  pay,  and  to  the  terms  on  which 
they  may  be  permitted  to  turn  home  into  a  place  of  manu- 
facture. There  was  a  time  in  the  Occident  when  all  such 
legislation  was  regarded  as  a  violation  of  individual  rights, — 
the  right  of  the  employer  to  do  as  he  pleased  in  his  shop, 
and  the  right  of  the  employe  to  make  a  free  contract, 
even  to  bargain  away  life  itself.  Gradually,  a  different 
philosophy  has  taken  possession  of  the  Western  mind, 
and  men  have  come  to  believe  that  the  individual  point  of 
view  is  untenable,  partial,  deceptive;  that  all  acts,  customs, 
and  laws  must  be  viewed  from  their  tendency  in  relation 
to  the  general  welfare;  and  that  both  employer  and  employe 
are  bound  morally  and  must  be  held  legally  to  act  in  a 
way  which  is  consistent  with  the  common  good.  In  this 
particular  class,  the  working  mothers,  the  social  interest 
in  the  health  of  the  rising  generation  is  too  evident  and 
palpable  to  ignore,  and  our  laws  are  constantly  revised  to 
conform  to  this  more  recent  social  doctrine.  ^  In  this  con- 
nection, we  should  remember  that   the  postponement  of 

•  J.  QoLDMARK,  Fatigue  andEffici-       Mrs.  Florence  Kelley,  Ethical  Gains 
ertcv(1912).  Mr.  Brandeis' argument       through  Legislation. 
(brief)  in  the  Oregon  Laundry  Case. 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY         93 

marriage  until  the  mother  is  physically  and  mentally  mature 
and  fit  to  bear  and  rear  strong  children,  is  a  result  of  the 
same  convictions  of  social  duty. 

b)  Assurance  of  income  to  poor  working  mothers  is 
an  essential  element  in  this  programme;  because  it  is 
clear  that  for  one  whose  very  existence  depends  on  daily 
wages,  when  income  ceases,  life  is  in  jeopardy;  and  that 
a  woman  thus  driven  by  the  wolf  of  necessity  will  work 
too  near  the  birth  of  her  babe  and  too  soon  thereafter, 
unless  the  income  is  assured.  There  are  three  methods 
for  continuing  this  income,  so  that  the  expectant  mother 
and  the  nursing  mother  will  be  able  to  follow  her  physi- 
cian's advice:  charity,  mutual  benefit  associations,  and 
obligatory  sickness  and  maternity  insurance  under  State 
regulation,  as  in  Germany.  Charity,  whether  public  or 
private,  is  both  uncertain  and  degrading;  the  mutual  benefit 
clubs  are  far  better,  but  few  and  difficult  to  organize  and 
maintain.  The  leaders  of  reform  see  in  the  sickness  and 
maternity  insurance  legislation  the  only  promise  of  the  day, 
when  the  mother  who  performs  an  essential  public  service 
shall  not  be  left  to  her  own  resources  in  her  hour  of  trial 
and  be  compelled  to  starve  the  babe  she  has  given  to  the 
world.  Chivalry,  reverence  for  motherhood,  patriotism,  and 
religion  join  in  this  holy  crusade,  and  already  beautiful  works 
of  philanthropy  and  hopeful  beginnings  of  legislation  be- 
token the  dawn  of  a  better  day.  This  particular  problem 
is  connected  vitally  with  others  which  remain  to  be 
discussed. 

c)  The  health,  vigor,  vitality  of  the  infant  depend  on 
the  skill  of  the  physician  or  midwife  who  attends  the 
mother  in  the  hours  of  her  trial  and  delivery.  Therefore, 
in  all  lands  of  the  Occident  the  standard  is  being  raised 
for  the  professional  training  of  these  useful  and  necessary 
guardians  of  the  entrance  upon  life.  This  is  an  example 
of  the  universal  tendency,  in  countries  of  free  and  ob- 


94  BARROWS  LECTURES 

ligatory  school  attendance,  to  make  the  requirements  for 
professional  service  more  exacting.  As  the  people  every- 
where are  taught  the  essential  facts  of  modern  science,  they 
are  more  dissatisfied  with  ignorant  quacks  and  imposters. 

dj  The  care  of  poor  women  and  babes  in  the  home 
is  a  part  of  our  programme.  Those  who  have  good 
income  and  are  intelligent  are  sure  to  provide  all  that 
money  can  buy  and  love  can  give  to  the  mother  and  babe; 
and  this  we  desire  for  those  who  are  less  favorably 
situated.  Hence  we  observe  in  all  countries  the  increasing 
effort  to  send  into  the  homes  of  the  poor,  nurses  and 
domestic  assistants  during  the  days  when  the  woman 
cannot  rise  without  injury  to  keep  the  house  tidy,  to  dress 
the  children,  to  cook  the  food,  and  see  that  the  household 
is  made  as  attractive  and  wholesome  as  possible.  In  the 
future,  we  may  find  a  way  to  furnish  such  help  without 
charity,  by  increasing  wages  and  by  insurance  funds;  but 
in  the  meantime  public  relief  and  private  charity  step  in, 
when  the  means  of  the  family  are  insufficient. 

e)  Not  all  mothers  can  be  sheltered  in  the  period  of 
maternity  in  their  own  homes;  some  must  find  refuge  in 
institutions.  Thus  the  poor  women  whose  dwellings  are 
crowded,  whose  husbands  are  drunken  or  abusive,  whose 
health  is  infirm,  who  need  for  weeks  or  months  skilful 
nursing  and  medical  attention,  —  all  such  should  be  placed 
in  institutions  where  their  wants  can  be  supplied. 

And  there  are,  alas!  the  unmarried  mothers,  those 
weak-minded,  irresponsible,  misguided  girls  who  are 
compelled  to  fly  from  their  employers,  their  relatives,  their 
own  parents  and  hide  their  shame  in  some  institution  of 
public  or  private  mercy.  If  they  are  deserted  by  charity, 
they  are  sorely  tempted  to  abortion,  infanticide,  and  then 
to  prostitution.  Mother  and  offspring  belong  together,  and 
often  the  maternal  instinct  is  awakened  by  the  cry  and 
need  of  the  infant  and  redeems  the  woman. 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY         95 

3.  The  direct  protection  and  care  of  infants  outside 
of  institutions. 

a)  Protection  of  legal  rights  of  infants.  In  the  English 
law  the  parents  of  legitimate  children  are  held  to  the  duty 
of  protection,  maintenance,  and  education  of  their  children, 
and  the  standard  of  such  care  is  steadily  advancing  with 
increasing  knowledge  and  popularization  of  science.  Wil- 
ful neglect,  cruelty,  or  abuse  may  be  punished  under  the 
criminal  statutes;  and,  generally,  a  child  may  be  removed 
from  the  custody  of  unfit  parents  and  placed  where  its  life, 
integrity,  and  character  are  more  secure. 

If  the  parents  are  too  poor  to  perform  these  primary 
duties  properly,  a  public  poor  fund  is  provided  by  taxa- 
tion, and  this  is  frequently  supplemented  or  supplanted  by 
private  charity.  In  the  most  advanced  commonwealths 
poverty  is  not  a  reason  for  permitting  a  woman  to  leave 
her  young  children  to  go  out  to  earn  a  livelihood.  It  is 
believed  that  a  mother  cannot  render  to  society  a  better 
return  for  her  support  than  a  proper  care  of  her  own  off- 
spring; and  that  it  is  far  better  to  pay  her  wages  for  this 
task  than  for  scrubbing  floors,  washing  windows,  or  weav- 
ing cloth.  Enough  labor  can  be  found  for  such  common 
work,  while  for  the  sacred  and  precious  duty  of  mothering 
a  spirit  in  the  infant's  fragile  body  not  even  an  angel  from 
heaven  would  do  so  well  as  a  plain,  simple,  honest,  af- 
fectionate woman.  Thus  our  Western  laws  assume  that 
the  care  of  infancy  by  the  parents  is  the  normal  and  usual 
mode  of  protecting  and  rearing  the  young. 

But,  alas!  There  are  only  too  many  abnormal  and  un- 
usual situations,  where  infants  are  deprived  of  parental  and 
even  of  maternal  solace.  The  most  tragic  and  sad  examples 
are  the  offspring  of  illegitimate  and  immoral  sexual  unions; 
but  there  are  also  a  certain  number  of  babies  deserted  by  mar- 
ried people;  and  of  some  the  mothers  die;  and  there  are  some 
morally  unfit  or  desperately  weak  and  destitute  of  resources. 


96 


BARROWS  LECTURES 


In  such  cases,  the  progressive  states  stand  in  the  place 
of  the  parents  and  mai<e  legal  provision  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  guardians,  individual  or  professional,  to  represent 
the  legal  rights  of  the  infant  and  see  that  they  are  enforced. 

bj  In  many  of  our  great  towns  the  infants  exposed 
to  physical  perils  are  supervised  by  medical  men  assisted 
by  trained  nurses  and  visitors.  A  complete  register  is 
kept  of  every  birth,  and  in  all  cases  where  the  life  of  the 
babe  is  in  jeopardy,  it  comes  immediately  and  continuously 
under  the  expert  control  of  the  medical  authorities  and 
their  assistants.  The  mothers  or  foster-nurses  are  in- 
structed and  visits  are  made  to  the  homes  to  see  that  the 
directions  are  faithfully  carried  out.  Under  this  system 
the  rate  of  mortality  has  been  quickly  and  greatly  reduced; 
and  thus  it  is  demonstrated  that  mortality  is  not  due  to 
evil  charms,  magic,  astral  influences,  or  fate,  but  to  definite 
causes  in  feeding  and  care,  which  can  be  discovered  and 
diminished  by  suitable  measures. 

c)  The  chief  social  causes  of  infant  mortality  are 
maternal  ignorance,  neglect,  and  poverty;  because  the  phy- 
sical causes  may  be  removed  or  diminished  by  intelligent 
and  faithful  use  of  proper  means. 

Hence  the  "consultations"  for  mothers  and  nurslings 
have  rapidly  been  established,  beginning  in  France  with 
Dr.  Budin  only  a  few  years  ago.  The  essential  features 
in  these  famous  "consultations"  are:  the  physician  who 
knows  and  loves,  the  scales  for  weighing  the  baby  to  show 
its  growth  or  decline,  the  card  for  recording  the  observa- 
tion and  directions  of  the  doctor;  the  presence  of  the 
mother  with  her  baby  for  observation  and  instruction;  and 
a  corps  of  trained  women  to  follow  up  the  interview  with 
frequent  visits  in  the  homes  to  see  that  wise  advice  is 
carried  into  practice. 

In  the  directions  given,  the  physician,  with  the  baby 
lying  on  his  knees,  teaches  the  poor  and  ignorant  mother 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY         97 

her  high  and  holy  duties,  not  in  vague  phrases,  but  in  simple, 
practical  directions  which  she  can  understand.  With  the 
chart  of  weights  before  her  eyes,  week  by  week  she  has  a 
visible  proof  of  the  wisdom  of  the  scientific  advice  received. 

d)  In  these  consultations  the  first  place  is  given  to 
breast-feeding,  and  in  this  art  mothers  are  taught  and  en- 
couraged with  the  authority  which  scientific  physicians 
everywhere  enjoy  with  the  people. 

Only  in  the  exceptional  cases  of  necessity  does  the 
doctor  advise  feeding  cow's  milk  or  some  other  substitute 
for  the  natural  food  of  a  human  infant.  The  consultations 
have  been  aptly  called  "Schools  for  mothers".  In  many 
cities  of  Europe  mothers  are  encouraged  by  premiums  to 
nurse  their  own  infants.  "Schools  for  little  mothers"  have 
been  introduced  for  the  purpose  of  showing  girls  how  to 
help  their  mothers  bathe  and  dress  infants;  so  that  when 
they  grow  up  and  have  children  of  their  own,  they  will 
begin  with  a  good  store  of  knowledge. 

e)  In  our  great  cities  it  is  difficult  to  procure  pure 
milk  for  infants  and  young  children.  In  the  stables,  on 
the  dairy  farms,  during  the  process  of  transportation  and 
delivery,  the  milk  is  exposed  to  contamination.  The  micro- 
scopic bacteria,  which  multiply  in  milk  so  rapidly  and  are 
so  poisonous  in  the  digestive  organs,  are  the  foes  of  child- 
hood. City  governments  have  called  to  their  aid  the 
learning  and  skill  of  the  bacteriologists  and  physicians, 
and  the  authority  of  legislatures  to  guard  this  precious 
material  of  nutrition  from  the  source  to  the  homes  where  it 
is  consumed.  Charity  and  science  have  followed  it  even  into 
the  homes  to  make  sure  that  the  vessels  in  which  it  is  kept 
and  conveyed  to  the  lips  of  the  tender  child,  are  clean  and 
wholesome,  and  that  the  quantities  taken  and  the  intervals 
of  feeding  are  such  as  are  approved  by  the  medical  pro- 
fession. Where  parents  are  too  poor  to  pay  for  the  milk, 
public  relief  and  private  charity  often  furnish  the  payments. 

7 


98 


BARROWS  LECTURES 


4.  More  briefly,  I  must  barely  mention,  for  the  sake 
of  completeness  of  analysis,  the  various  institutions  which 
supplement  home-care: 

a)  The  day  nursery  (creche),  where  working  mothers 
may  safely  leave  their  little  ones  while  they  toil  for  wages; 

b)  the  infant  hospitals,  where  the  sick  babies  are 
taken  for  treatment  when  they  cannot  so  well  be  helped 
in  the  crowded  and  unwholesome  dwelling  of  the  poor; 

c)  the  asylums  and  foundling  homes  where,  at  least 
temporarily,  little  children  may  be  taken,  until  a  family 
home  can  be  found. 

5.  Attention  is  also  directed  to  educational  problems: 
the  better  and  more  general  training  of  young  physicians 
in  the  care  and  feeding  and  medical  treatment  of  infants; 
the  training  of  midwives  and  nurses;  and  the  diffusion  of 
knowledge  of  the  subject  among  the  people. 

6.  Organizations  for  promoting  these  ideas  and  prin- 
ciples are  now  found  in  many  municipal  and  state  associ- 
ations; and  an  international  League  ^  exists  which  invites 
the  peoples  of  the  world  to  co-operate  in  this  holy  crusade 
against  ignorance,  superstition,  error,  neglect,  and  cruelty, 
and  on  behalf  of  infancy  whose  sufferings  are  so  pathetic, 
whose  smile  and  laughter  are  so  winsome. 

The  noblest  picture  in  the  world,  most  perfect  in 
composition,  color,  and  atmosphere,  many  of  us  think,  is 
the  Mother  and  Child  painted  by  Raphael,  kept  as  in  a 
sanctuary  in  the  gallery  at  Dresden,  a  symbol  at  once  of 
holy  motherhood  and  of  the  union  of  God  and  man,  of 
earth  and  heaven. 

SUCCESS  OF  THIS  PROGRAMME 

Our  responsibility  is  enhanced  by  the  fact  that  we 
can  no  longer  plead  ignorance  of  the  means  of  reducing 


Dr.  Eugene  Lust,  Secretary,  Brussels,  Belgium. 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY         99 

infant  mortality.  It  is  moral  lethargy,  cruelty,  selfishness, 
wicked  fatalism,  if  we  permit  needless  sickness,  pain, 
sorrow,  and  death.  The  world  now  has  the  knowledge 
and  the  demonstration.  Thus  the  medical  officer  in  Oldham, 
England,  has  published  the  results  of  instruction  of  mothers 
in  the  art  of  feeding  and  care  of  their  infants.  He  compared 
the  death-rate  during  the  years  1896-1901,  when  there 
were  no  women-instructors  for  mothers,  with  the  years 
1902-1907,  after  systematic  instruction  was  given,  and 
the  decrease  was  on  the  average  16-1  *'/o;  and  after  1908, 
when  the  compulsory  reporting  of  births  was  introduced, 
the  rate  fell  still  lower, — 110-4  per  1000  births,  as  compared 
with  158-6  for  the  six  years  of  1896-1901. 

II.    Dwellings. 

Movement  to  improve  living  conditions  of  dwellings, 
especially  of  the  poor  in  great  cities.  Our  experience  in 
the  urban  centers  of  Europe  and  America  will  be  helpful 
to  you,  now  that  the  great  industry  and  commerce  begin 
to  crowd  Bombay,  Madras,  and  Calcutta  with  low-paid 
wage-earners. 

1.  The  need.  The  social  obligation  to  intervene  in 
the  regulation  of  habitations  of  men  is  based  on  the  value 
to  the  community  of  the  health  of  the  people  and  on  the 
inability  of  the  individual  to  protect  himself.  The  poor 
man  is  subject  to  the  will  of  his  landlord,  and  fears  to  be 
ejected  if  he  complains.  The  most  intelligent  families,  who 
keep  their  dwellings  immaculately  clean,  may  be  surrounded 
by  close  neighbors  who  violate  the  rules  of  hygiene.  Thus 
it  is  manifest  that  the  community  must  co-operate  to  secure 
wholesome  conditions. 

2.  Elements  in  the  programme  of  securing  hygienic 
habitations.  First  of  all,  the  plan  of  the  city,  the  arrange- 
ments, directions,  and  width  of  streets  determine  some  of 
the  factors.    Few  cities  and  towns  have  been  deliberately 


1 00  BARRO  WS  LECTURES 

planned  from  the  beginning  in  view  of  modern  requirements 
of  health,  and  now  they  must  be  gradually  rebuilt  at 
enormous  cost  in  order  to  protect  life.  The  width  of 
streets  determines  the  amount  of  light  and  air  which  may 
be  enjoyed  by  the  people.  The  drainage  and  sewage  of 
the  city  become  matters  of  supreme  interest,  and  they  must 
be  provided  for  as  the  area  is  built  over.  For  every  human 
being,  man,  woman,  child, — there  must  be  so  much  open 
space  accessible  for  recreation,  ior  outdoor  life,  for  social 
converse,  and  music. 

The  local  or  general  government  must  work  out,  pub- 
lish, and  enforce  a  minimum  standard  for  the  structure  of 
habitations,  and  this  standard  must  include  all  that  is 
necessary  for  health  and  safety  in  accordance  with  the 
teachings  of  modern  science:  light,  ventilation,  cleanliness, 
separation  of  the  sexes,  privacy,  opportunity  for  bathing, 
and  open  space  near  the  home  for  little  children.  The 
structure  and  materials  should  afford  security  against  loss 
of  life  from  fire.  This  standard  should  be  enforced  in 
accordance  with  a  building  code  published  for  the  infor- 
mation of  landlords  and  tenants.  Old  buildings,  which  are 
not  yet  decayed  beyond  repair,  may  be  transformed  to 
comply  fairly  well  with  the  standard  code,  and  the  regu- 
lations enforced  by  inspectors.  Space,  cleanliness,  and 
decency  may  thus  be  made  possible.  Women  of  vicious 
habits  may  be  driven  out  of  composite  dwellings  where 
their  presence  and  practices  are  corrupting  to  youth.  Hope- 
lessly bad  dwellings,  too  bad  for  repair,  may  be  condemned. 
Landlords,  when  they  are  not  permitted  by  the  police  to 
derive  rent  from  the  tumble-down  houses,  will  be  forced  to 
destroy  and  build  better  houses  in  order  to  derive  revenue 
from  them.  In  granting  permits  for  the  erection  of  new  dwel- 
lings the  city  officials  may  enforce  a  higher  standard  in 
accordance  with  building  codes  which  embody  the  teachings 
of  hygiene  and  the  wisdom  of  architects.    Bu£  the  require- 


PUBUC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY       101 

ments  must  not  ignore  the  economic  limits.  A  "model 
plan"  for  a  house  must  be  one  which  does  not  cost  so 
much  that  the  wage-earner  cannot  afford  to  pay  rent. 
Provision  for  suitable  habitations  is  closely  connected,  in 
large  cities,  with  the  question  of  cheap  and  rapid  transpor- 
tation. If  working-men  can  live  at  a  distance,  they  can 
secure  more  room  and  comfort  than  in  the  centers  of  crowded 
population,  where  rents  are  high.  But  if  the  means  of 
transportation  are  costly  and  slow,  many  laborers  must 
be  content  to  huddle  together  in  miserable  quarters,  where 
light,  ventilation,  and  cleanliness  are  denied  them. 

Many  great  corporations  in  Europe  and  America  have 
built  towns  in  the  suburbs  of  great  cities,  where  each  fami- 
ly may  have  its  own  cottage,  with  a  garden.  Thus  some 
of  the  advantages  of  both  urban  and  rural  life  may  be 
enjoyed  by  the  workers  and  their  families. 

Private  philanthropy  has  pioneered  the  way  by  making 
investigations  and  trying  experiments  with  model  villages. 

Both  in  crowded  cities  and  in  more  spacious  grounds 
of  suburbs,  the  building  and  loan  associations  and  co- 
operative building  societies  in  Europe  and  America  have 
made  it  possible  for  many  working-men  to  house  their 
families  in  decent  modest  homes  of  their  own.  These 
societies  are  encouraged  and  even  helped  by  the  State, 
and  aided  by  rich  patrons;  but  their  principal  success  is 
due  to  the  spirit  of  fraternal  co-operation  for  mutual  aid. 
When  the  self-interest  of  investors  and  manufacturers  and 
the  efforts  of  private  philanthropists,  and  sanitary  regula- 
tions have  all  failed,  some  municipalities  have  gone  further, 
have  condemned  ruinous  property  or  bought  it  up,  and 
have  constructed  modest  but  decent  dwellings  for  the  in- 
dustrial families, — as  in  Liverpool.  German  cities,  as 
Frankfort  o.  M.,  have  bought  large  tracts  of  land  and  laid 
out  streets  on  such  a  wise  and  generous  plan  as  to  project 
the  people  for  generations  to  come. 


102  BARROWS  LECTURES 

III.  School  Hygiene. 

The  principle  of  universal,  gratuitous  and  obligatory 
attendance  at  school  is  already  the  accepted  doctrine  of 
national  duty  in  the  Western  World;  and  rapid  advance 
is  seen  in  making  practice  conform  to  the  ideal.  This 
brings  with  it  a  portentous  danger  to  public  health,  be- 
cause multitudes  of  children  must  be  crowded  into  large 
buildings,  where  light  and  ventilation  are  difficult  to  secure, 
and  where  communicable  diseases  are  easily  diffused.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  are  great  advantages  from  the  stand- 
point of  scientific  administration  of  departments  of  health; 
for,  practically  all  the  children  are  at  once  brought  under 
direct  control  of  representatives  of  medical  science,  and 
they  are  taught  and  trained  in  the  art  of  preventing  disease. 
The  public  policy  of  school  hygiene  includes,  among  other 
things,  the  scientific  construction  of  buildings;  the  sys- 
tematic inspection  of  all  children;  the  medical  control,  by 
physicians  and  nurses,  of  all  pupils  in  school;  medical 
and  surgical  care  of  all  pupils  who  are  feeble,  sick,  or 
abnormal;  feeding  of  those  not  properly  nourished,  either 
at  home  or  at  the  school  itself;  special  rooms  or  institu- 
tions for  the  tuberculous,  crippled,  deaf,  or  blind,  where 
each  can  receive  the  special  treatment  required. 

IV.  Urban  Hygiene. 

What  has  been  said  of  the  hygiene  of  infancy  and  of 
dwellings  need  not  be  repeated  here,  and  we  may  proceed 
to  illustrate  the  policies  of  progressive  European  and 
American  cities  in  respect  to  several  other  matters  of  mo- 
ment to  the  entire  population. 

1.  The  water-supply  is  everywhere  a  subject  of 
anxious  concern.  Formerly  it  was  enough  if,  in  regions 
of  scattered  population,  each  family  dug  its  own  well  or 
controlled  a  natural  spring.    But  in  large  towns,  the  soil 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY        103 

itself  becomes  poisonous,  and  the  community  must  co- 
operate on  a  grand  scale.  The  precious  fluid  must  be 
conveyed  from  pure  mountain-lakes  by  a  costly  system  of 
tubes  and  aqueducts.  These  lakes  must  be  policed  to  protect 
them  against  contamination.  Or,  water  of  rivers  must  be 
purified  by  physical,  chemical,  or  biological  means,  so  as 
to  remove  the  germs  of  disease  and  other  impurities.  Such 
a  system  implies  the  co-operation  of  men  of  various  scien- 
tific disciplines  with  managers  of  finance,  engineers,  and 
legislators.  It  would  be  easy  to  show  what  this  implies 
for  higher  ideals,  wider  co-operation,  and  general  intelligence. 

2.  Sewage  disposal  has  come  to  be  a  social  problem 
of  the  first  magnitude  in  cities  of  the  West.  We  have 
not  yet  learned  to  utilize  organic  waste  so  that  the  streams 
and  lakes  shall  not  be  contaminated  and  so  that  elements 
of  fertility  may  be  restored  to  the  soil.  Probably,  all  the 
methods  now  in  use  will  be  superseded  within  a  few  de- 
cades by  something  which  is  at  once  economical  and 
effective.  In  this  matter,  the  Western  Nations  may  have 
something  to  learn  from  the  oriental  farmers  in  respect  to 
conservancy  and  the  utilization  of  the  organic  waste  of  cities, 
while  all  nations  have  much  yet  to  learn  from  science 
about  prevention  of  disease  from  the  diffusion  of  danger- 
ous bacteria  in  the  soil. 

3.  How  certain  diseases  are  kept  alive  and  communi- 
cated. In  the  case  of  typhoid  fever,  the  sufferer  is  the  source 
of  germs  which  cause  the  disease,  which  multiply  in  the 
intestines,  and  by  various  routes  are  carried  by  water, 
milk,  utensils,  and  touch  to  the  mouths  of  others.  The  only 
way  to  prevent  the  communication  of  the  disease  is  to 
destroy  the  germs  which  come  from  the  body,  by  chemi- 
cal means,  or  boiling  or  burning,  before  they  can  reach 
others. 

Tuberculosis  is  conveyed  chiefly  through  the  air,  or  by 
articles  containing  the  sputa  of  the  patient;  and  therefore, 


104  BARROWS  LECTURES 

to  protect  the  family,  the  neighbors,  and  the  public  the 
diseased  person  must  be  isolated  and  the  sputa  destroyed. 

In  the  case  of  scarJet  fever — since  the  germs  (yet  un- 
known) are  scattered  in  the  air  from  the  patient, — the  patient 
should  be  isolated  for  a  certain  period  and  the  bedding, 
clothing,  and  furniture  thoroughly  disinfected  at  the  end. 

Diphtheria  is  communicated  through  the  air,  and  iso- 
lation is  necessary. 

For  the  loathsome  small-pox  there  is  no  longer  any 
excuse.  If  we  could  persuade  or  compel  all  the  people  to 
be  vaccinated,  this  terrible  disease  would  soon  disappear. 
Once  it  was  the  terror  of  our  cities;  now  it  is  rare  and 
is  confined  to  a  few  careless  and  ignorant  people  who 
neglect  their  duty  to  their  fellow-men  and  expose  them  to 
danger. 

Insects  are  now  recognized  as  carriers  of  some 
diseases;  and  this  discovery  promises  to  put  an  end  to 
some  of  the  most  dangerous  foes  of  mankind. .  Certain 
species  of  mosquitoes  having  been  convicted  of  the  high 
crime  of  inoculating  human  beings  with  malaria,  it  has 
been  agreed  to  inflict  capital  punishment  upon  all  their  I 
tribe. 

The  common  house-fly  has  also  been  marked  as  a  , 
foe  of  health,  because  he  is  unclean  and  his  feet  convey  ■ 
the  germs  of  disease  from  the  culture-grounds  of  filth  to 
the  lips  of  the  innocent  and  unsuspecting;  and  now  his 
doom  is  writ  and  the  nation  rises  in  wrath  with  besom, 
traps,  and  deadly  potions  to  sweep  the  whole  race  from 
the  earth. 

The  management  of  communicable  diseases  in  cities. 
In  a  study  of  this  subject  by  the  city  of  Milwaukee,  the 
following  requirements  were  made  by  the  experts  em- 
ployed to  make  recommendations;  and  they  probably 
represent  the  conclusions  of  recent  authorities:  "Granting 
that  physicians  report  all  cases  of  communicable  disease, 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY       105 

the  Health  Department  should  control  them  by  the  follow- 
ing agencies: 

1.  Through  an  expert  epidemiologist,  who  shall  study 
every  case  thoroughly  to  discover,  if  possible,  the  source 
of  the  disease,  and  who  shall  conduct  the  entire  adminis- 
tration of  the  division. 

2.  Through  quarantine  and  isolation  of  the  patient 
(hospital,  if  necessary). 

3.  Through  constant  inspection  of  quarantined  quarters 
and  rigid  enforcement  of  quarantine. 

4.  Through  a  bacteriologist,  who  shall  assist  in 
making  diagnoses  and  in  determining  the  period  of 
quarantine  or  isolation  in  certain  diseases. 

5.  Through  inspection  by  Health  Department  physi- 
cians before  releasing  from  quarantine. 

6.  Through  disinfection. 

7.  Through  education  of  the  people  as  to  the  preven- 
tion of  disease  and  the  protection  of  others." 

V.    Shop  or  Industrial  Hygiene. 

We  have  followed  the  wage-earner  through  the  perils 
of  infancy  and  school  life,  and  the  exposure  to  danger  in 
house,  street,  and  public  places,  and  we  have  seen  that  the 
Western  World  is  aroused,  armed,  and  drilled  to  conquer 
the  causes  of  weakness  and  death.  We  must  now  enter 
the  workshop  itself  and  confront  those  dangers  to  physical 
integrity  and  vigor  which  are  peculiar  to  the  place  where 
industry  is  active,  where  the  wage-earner  wins  his  daily 
bread  by  constant  toil.  It  is  a  part  of  the  situation  that  the 
workman  does  not  own  nor  control  the  building  in  which 
he  sells  his  bodily  forces,  nor  the  hours  he  must  labor, 
nor  the  air  he  breathes.  All  this  is  under  the  mastery  of 
the  manager  and  capitalist  who  hires  him  and  rules  him. 
Very  often,  neither  the  workman  nor  his  master  is  aware 
of  the  dangers  or,  if  he  knows  them,  he  is  not  aware  of 


106  BARROWS  LECTURES 

any  way  of  escape  from  the  injuries  which  constantly  come 
to  the  wori<ers.  For  these  reasons,  all  advanced  European 
and  American  governments  have  interfered  in  the  manage- 
ment of  mines,  railways,  steel  mills,  textile  factories,  and 
mercantile  establishments,  so  far  at  least  as  to  establish 
regulations  whose  purpose  is  to  protect  the  safety,  health, 
and  comfort  of  their  laborious  citizens.  What  the  indi- 
vidual alone  is  powerless  to  accomplish,  is  made  easy 
when  the  State,  acting  for  us  all,  establishes  a  rule. 
These  regulations  occupy  many  large  volumes,  and  their 
discussion  has  produced  a  vast  library  of  pamphlets  and 
books.  Obviously,  we  must  here  limit  our  treatment  to  a 
few  typical  illustrations  of  the  chief  principles  in  a  social 
policy  which  was  developed  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
is  constantly  improved. 

Prevention  of  accidents.  Physical  integrity  is  jeopar- 
dized in  many  ways  by  machinery,  which  has  steadily 
become  more  ponderous,  swift  in  motion,  and  intricate  in 
structure.  Steam  and  electricity  are  good  servants,  but  bad 
masters. 

Beneficent  the  might  of  flame 

When  'tis  by  men  watched  o'er,  made  tame; 

For  to  this  heavenly  power  he  owes 

/'I  his  creative  genius  knows; 

But  terrible  this  power  may  be 
When  from  its  fetters  it  breaks  free; 
Treads  its  own  path  with  passions  wild, 
Like  nature's  free  and  reckless  child. 

By  the  study  of  experience  in  various  occupations  the 
modern  legislators  have  been  enabled  to  draw  up  a  code 
of  regulations  which  cover  many  of  the  situations  which 
are  fraught  with  menace  to  the  workers.  In  the  great  in- 
dustrial museums  of  Paris,  Zurich,  Berlin,  and  elsewhere 
the  latest  and  most  approved  devices  are  exhibited:  guards 
for  parts  of  machinery  which  are  likely  to  cut,  tear,  or 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY       107 

bruise  the  hands,  or  catch  the  garments  and  drag  the  body 
into  the  swift  and  powerful  machines. 

Prevention  of  occupational  diseases.  1.  Among  the 
chief  causes  of  ill-health  or  death  found  in  work-places 
we  may  select  for  mention  and  illustration:  poisons,  foul 
air,  dust,  compressed  air,  cramped  positions,  jars  and 
vibration.* 

2.  Legal  requirements  for  protection.  The  law  follows 
obedient  in  the  path  marked  out  by  medical  science  as 
the  path  of  social  duty.  It  is  specific  in  its  demands  at 
every  point  where  the  health  of  the  workmen  is  at  stake. 
To  remove  foul  air,  poisonous  vapors,  and  irritating  dust, 
the  best  legislation  and  administrative  regulations  re- 
quire devices  for  ventilation  which  conform  to  the  stan- 
dards evolved  by  trial  and  experiment.  To  avoid  the 
conveyance  of  poison,  as  lead,  from  the  painted  surface 
or  the  materials  used  in  manufacture,  to  the  interior  of  the 
body  by  the  mouth  or  skin,  the  means  of  cleanliness  of 
body  and  clothing  must  be  provided  by  the  employers. 
In  some  cases  the  use  of  poisonous  substances  is  legally 
forbidden  or  restricted.  Thus,  legislation  prohibits  the 
use  of  poisonous  forms  of  phosphorus  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  matches,  and  restricts  the  use  of  white  lead  for 
painting  the  inside  of  houses.  Since  women  and  children 
are  peculiarly  susceptible  to  some  kinds  of  poisons,  as 
white  lead,  the  best  laws  forbid  employers  to  set  them  to 


*  Cost  of  miners^  nystagmus.  (Jour.  lation  of  the  eye-bulbs  on  fixation. 
Amer.  Med.  Assoc,  Aug.  17,  1912,  It  prevents  the  miner  from  accurately 
p.  547-8.)  —  In  the  United  Kingdom  fixing  anything  toward  which  his 
in  1910  there  were  1618  cases  of  vision  is  directed."  The  remedies 
miners'  nystagmus;  the  indemnity  proposed  are  prohibition  of  work  in 
paid  under  the  compensation  law  was  coal  mines  to  men  who  show  certain 
$  155,000  (about  £  31,000),  beside  errors  of  refraction  upon  optical  ex- 
loss  of  production.  "Among  miners  amination;  improvements  in  lighting 
nystagmus  is  an  occupational  neurosis  and  ventilation, 
characterized  by  an  involuntary  osdl- 


108  BARROWS  LECTURES 

work  in  places  where  they  can  come  in  contact  with  these 
substances.  The  control  of  tuberculosis  by  an  expert 
organization,  the  Tuberculosis  Institute  of  Chicago,  will 
illustrate  the  methods  used,  with  the  help  of  employers. 
The  principle  of  periodic  examination  and  timely  repair  is 
at  the  basis  of  this  system.  The  efficiency  of  the  worker, 
his  power  to  produce  commodities,  and  earn  his  own  income 
and  support  his  family,  depend  on  steady  and  abounding 
health.  Periodic  medical  examinations  make  timely  action 
possible;  every  hour  lost  makes  recovery  more  uncertain 
or  slow.  Tuberculosis,  if  neglected,  passes  beyond  the 
curable  stage  before  it  attracts  attention.  If  it  runs  on 
into  the  "open"  stage,  it  infects  others  in  home  and  shop. 
A  physician  examines  all  suspicious  cases,  instructs  the 
patients  how  to  live,  advises  the  men  in  the  shop  by 
lectures  and  printed  instructions,  and  gives  directions  to 
the  nurses.  The  trained  nurses  assist  the  physician  during 
clinic  hours,  visit  and  study  the  homes  and  living  conditions 
of  employes  pronounced  "tuberculous"  or  "predisposed", 
instructs  the  family  in  the  rules  of  hygienic  living,  and 
furnishes  information  for  guidance  in  each  particular  case. 
A  tuberculosis  clinic  is  established  in  the  premises  of  a 
large  corporation  or  in  the  neighborhood  of  industrial 
families.  Each  individual  case  is  classified,  a)  according 
to  diagnosis:  "tuberculous"  or  "non-tuberculous",  "active" 
or  "non-active",  "open"  or  "closed";  b)  according  to 
necessity  of  change  of  occupation  or  discontinuance  of 
work;  c)  according  to  need  of  hospital,  sanatorium  or 
home  treatment.  Supervision  of  all  cases  is  continued 
to  secure  a  cure  and  to  protect  other  persons  from  infection. 
This  plan  requires  money  for  hospitals,  sanatoria,  phy- 
sicians, nurses,  food,  support  of  family  while  the  wage- 
earner  is  forced  to  be  idle  to  effect  a  cure.  For  these 
financial  means  we  have  public  institutions  maintained  by 
gifts  and   endowments   of  a  charitable  nature,  gifts  of 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY       109 

employers,  and,  best  of  all,  sickness  and  invalid  insurance, 
which  is  not  so  well  developed  in  America  as  in  Germany 
and  Great  Britain.  Insurance  provides  a  fund  to  which  the 
workman  has  a  rightful  claim;  while  reliance  on  charity 
is  humiliating  and  depressing. 

Fatigue,  it  has  been  discovered,  so  depresses  the 
bodily  system  as  to  render  it  more  open  to  attacks  of 
disease.  There  is  for  each  category  of  workers  a  limit 
of  energy;  when  that  limit  is  passed,  it  is  at  the  expense 
of  vitality,  and  with  risk  to  life.  Scientific  investigation 
and  records  of  efficiency  have  already  established  the 
limits  of  maximum  efficiency  in  many  trades,  and  within 
a  few  years,  we  have  reason  to  believe,  this  study  will 
carry  us  much  further.  It  is  on  the  basis  of  this  knowledge 
that  we  establish  our  laws  limiting  the  hours  of  labor  and 
securing  periodically  days  of  rest, — first  for  children,  then 
for  women,  then  for  men. 

Administration.  Laws  of  states  are  too  general  for 
minute  application  and  they  have  no  power  to  enforce 
themselves.  There  must  be  administrative  agents  to  make 
special  regulations  for  particular  trades,  to  issue  orders, 
and  to  see  that  the  laws  and  regulations  are  faithfully  en- 
forced and  the  intention  of  society  is  realized.  As  many 
of  the  safety  devices  and  measures  of  protection  cost  the 
employer  money,  and  as  some  of  them  are  inconvenient 
for  the  workmen,  inspectors  must  be  appointed  by  the 
government  to  protect  the  workmen  against  the  avarice  of 
the  masters  and  the  ignorance  of  those  directly  affected, 
and  to  see  that  the  law  is  enforced.  The  selection,  train- 
ing, and  discipline  of  these  inspectors  and  administrative 
agents  has  come  to  be  a  vital  question  of  state  governments. 

Necessity  of  education.  In  all  matters  of  public  health, 
the  education  of  the  individual  is  an  essential  factor.  The 
wisest  laws  and  the  most  competent  inspectors  will  be 
defeated,  if  the  workmen  and  the  public  are  not  taught  to 


110  BARROWS  LECTURES 

co-operate.  The  human  factor  cannot  with  safety  be 
ignored.  Children  must  be  taught  in  schools,  workmen 
must  be  instructed  by  placards  and  bulletins,  classes  must 
be  formed  to  have  ocular  demonstration  of  the  principles 
involved,  expositions  of  anatomy,  physiology,  hygiene, 
sanitation  and  safety  devices  must  be  erected  and  main- 
tained, in  order  that  men  may  walk  in  the  midst  of  the 
unseen  dangers  without  harm.  Health  and  sound  limbs 
cannot  be  received  as  a  gift;  they  must  be  achieved  by 
personal  intelligence,  wisdom,  and  attention. 

Some  of  the  diseases  of  working-men,  as  well  as 
others,  are  due  to  vice,  to  sensual  and  lawless  indulgence 
of  natural  or  acquired  appetites.  Self-control,  mastery  of 
the  body  by  the  spirit  under  social  law  of  general  welfare, 
is  a  slow  and  painful  achievement.  Vice  is  due  in  part 
to  physical  appetite,  partly  to  ignorance,  partly  to  debased 
beliefs,  partly  to  wrong  social  customs  and  laws.  In  the 
shame  and  loss  all  the  world  must  confess  more  or  less 
of  guilty  participation;  in  the  noble,  persistent,  courageous, 
and  high-minded  combat  with  these  evils  all  the  worthiest 
and  loftiest  spirits  are  fellow-soldiers.  In  the  Western 
World  our  societies  of  temperance  and  social  purity, 
instructed  by  leaders  of  medical  science,  inspired  by  pure 
women,  poets,  preachers,  sustained  by  the  holy  example 
and  divine  teaching  of  the  Founder  of  Christianity,  have 
made  their  appeal  to  the  common  sense,  the  chivalry,  the 
prudence,  the  patriotism,  and  the  faith  of  men;  and  by  no 
means  in  vain.  Before  us  stretches  a  long  and  rugged 
journey  yet  to  be  travelled,  but  it  is  illumined  even  to  its 
triumphant  end  by  the  heavenly  light  of  hope,  by  the 
cheering  memory  of  victories  over  evil  already  won, 

VI.    Rural  Hygiene. 

Apparently,  the  cities  have  profited  more  by  the  dis- 
coveries of  science  than  the  agricultural  districts,  and  show 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY       111 

a  more  rapid  reduction  of  the  death-rate.  In  cities,  the 
administration  can  more  quici<ly  control  the  conduct  oi 
large  numbers  of  persons  by  police  measures  and  inspec- 
tion; and  farmers  are  proverbially  slower  to  learn  and 
adopt  new  ideas.  But  of  recent  years,  we  have  witnessed 
a  marked  increase  of  attention  to  rural  hygiene.  Perhaps 
this  is  partly  due  to  the  discovery  that  the  milk,  meat,  and 
vegetables  sold  in  cities  may  be  tainted  and  made  injuri- 
ous to  health  from  the  ignorance  and  neglect  of  sanitary 
conditions  in  dairies,  herds,  and  in  preparation  of  vege- 
tables and  fruits  for  markets.  Milk  which  comes  from 
unclean  vessels,  and  may  be  watered  from  foul  wells, 
destroys  the  little  ones  in  cities  and  arouses  urban  interest 
in  rural  hygiene.  But  for  their  own  sake  our  citizens  on 
the  farms  are  worthy  of  consideration  by  the  authorities 
which  conduct  the  Health  Departments  of  the  states  and 
nations;  and  with  the  extension  of  schools  and  wider 
circulation  of  newspapers,  magazines,  and  governmental 
bulletins  public  opinion  becomes  more  intolerant  toward 
injurious  habits  and  customs. 

It  is  true  that  the  conditions  of  life  in  India  and  China 
are  very  different  from  those  in  Germany,  England,  or 
Canada;  and  our  methods  are  by  no  means  capable  of 
direct  transportation.  Each  country  must  develop  its  own 
system  of  regulations.  The  diseases  due  to  climate,  or  to 
peculiar  micro-organisms,  differ.  But  there  are  some  princi- 
ples of  common  interest,  and  the  movements  which  have 
for  their  purpose  the  promotion  of  physical  well-being 
must  have  something  of  kinship  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 
In  all  members  of  the  human  race  certain  conditions  pre- 
dispose to  disease,  certain  mineral  and  organic  substances 
poison  the  body,  and  certain  bacteria  set  up  morbid  states 
which  may  end  in  death.  Therefore,  heroic  effort  and  hope- 
ful success  in  one  region  should  inspire  effort  and  hope 
in  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  world.    The  wisest  and 


1 1 2  BARRO  WS  LECTURES 

best  directed  movements  for  rural  health  aim  to  achieve 
the  following  results:  I.  To  make  the  youth  and  all  the 
people  familiar  with  the  causes  of  ill-health  and  low  vital- 
ity, that  they  may  be  on  their  guard;  as:  dust,  bacteria  in 
milk,  water,  air,  clothing,  poisons,  strain,  neglect  of  person- 
al and  domestic  hygiene.  2.  To  educate  youth  and  all  the 
people  in  the  methods  of  maintaining  health  by  proper 
habits.  3.  To  organize  laws  and  administration  for  secur- 
ing conditions  of  physical  well-being  which  depend  upon 
action  by  authority,  as  in  matters  of  roads,  drains,  sewage 
systems,  inspection  of  diseased  animals,  erection  and  main- 
tenance of  hospitals,  dispensaries,  and  supply  of  nurses. 

The  influence  of  modern  science  has  made  itself  feU 
in  the  national  and  state  legislation  directed  to  the  eradica- 
tion of  tuberculosis,  trichinosis,  and  other  maladies  which 
may  be  communicated  from  animals  to  men.  In  this  work 
several  interests  agree:  that  of  the  farmer  whose  herds 
may  be  destroyed,  while  his  own  life  is  in  danger,  and 
that  of  the  consumers  who  require  protection.  In  Denmark, 
the  government  aids  the  cattle-raisers  by  providing  veteri- 
nary inspectors,  by  guarding  the  frontier  and  by  compen- 
sating in  part  the  farmer  whose  affected  cattle  must  be 
slaughtered.  The  tuberculin  test  is  applied  to  discover 
the  diseased  cattle,  so  that  they  may  be  excluded  from 
contact  with  sound  cattle. 

The  principle  of  progressive  legislation  relating  to  food 
products  of  rural  industry  is  thus  stated  by  Hall  and 
Pickering,  in  their  work  on  the  Law  of  Food  Condemna- 
tion (cited  by  H.  W.  Wiley  in  Bailey's  Cyclopedia  of  Ame- 
rican Agriculture): 

The  vender  of  poisonous  or  unwholesome  meat  has  never  en- 
joyed complete  immunity.  It  was  regarded  as  an  offence  punishable 
at  common  law  to  sell  for  human  consumption  poisonous  or  unsound 
meat.  The  evidence  of  the  unwholesome  qualities  of  the  food  usually 
relied  on  in  behalf  of  a  prosecution  under  the  common  law  were  the 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY       113 

symptoms  subsequently  exhibited  by  the  consumer.  The  action  of 
the  common  law  was,  therefore,  somewhat  tardy.  It  was  necessarily 
retrospective  and  retributive;  modern  statutory  enactments  strive  to 
be  anticipatory  and  protective. 

VII.    The  steps  of  progress  in  public  hygiene. 

Dr.  W.  B,  Evans,  an  eminent  sanitarian,   has  said: 

"Each  of  these  steps  has  represented  a  change  for  the 
better.  Society  started  with  the  idea  of  demons,  divine 
wrath,  rewards,  and  punishments  as  the  causes  of  conta- 
gion. The  way  epidemics  devastated  and  desolated  was 
suggestive  of  punishment.  The  people  bowed  before  it, 
helpless;  so  the  first  stage  —  indifference  —  gave  way  to 
the  second  —  fatalism. 

Next  came  .prayers  and  sacrifice,  a  distinct  advance 
in  that  it  implied  action. 

Next  came  the  filth  theory,  an  enormous  advance,  in 
that  it  meant  an  acceptance  of  responsibility.  The  cause 
was  oftentimes  in  filth.  The  theory  got  things  cleaned 
up  —  an  enormous  advance.  Day  was  breaking,  but  the 
sun  was  not  up. 

Next  came  bacteriology;  the  seed  was  found,  the  sun 
was  up.  But  still  there  was  too  much  to  watch;  informa- 
tion was  too  general.  So  there  came  the  last  step  — 
epidemiology." 

" We  succeeded  in  controlling  some  diseases, 

but  many  an  epidemic  burned  on,  until  the  available 
material  had  burned  out."  The  best  measures  are  those 
which  take  hold  just  where  the  cause  exists,  "Take  the 
history  of  yellow  fever  in  New  Orleans.  See  how  the 
campaign  against  it  increased  in  efficiency,  as  it  shrank 
from  an  embargo  on  everything  to  an  embargo  on  mosqui- 
toes. See  how  plague  dwindled,  as  attention  was  concen- 
trated from  all  things  to  fleas.  See  how  small-pox  came 
in  leash,  as  we  progressed  from  filth  to  vaccination. . .  . 

8 


1 1 4  BARRO  WS  LECTURES 

Now  we  know  that  we  must  watch  people  rather  than 
things,  and  not  all  the  people  at  that  — merely  those  who 
have  been  in  contact  with  cases  of  contagion  —  contacts, 
cases,  and  carriers.  All  effort  is  now  concentrated  on 
these."  This  policy  is  now  applied  to  consumptives;  they 
are  selected,  isolated,  often  cured,  and  in  the  worst  situa- 
tion do  not  spread  the  great  White  Plague  in  the  community. 

VICTORIES  OF  PREVENTIVE  MEDICINE 

In  1885,  in  Paris,  the  Pasteur  treatment  for  Rabies 
was  first  tried  on  man.  In  1889,  the  Ninth  International 
Congress  on  Hygiene  and  Demography  was  held  in  Paris, 
and  the  claims  of  Pasteur  were  authoritatively  confirmed. 
After  that,  Americans  began  to  visit  Paris,  and  Frenchmen 
left  Paris  with  the  same  end  in  view;  namely,  to  establish 
new  Pasteur  Institutes.  There  are  now  Pasteur  Institutes 
in  twenty-three  states,  where  the  anti-rabic  remedy  is  pre- 
pared and  administered.  Since  1908,  the  Hygienic  Labora- 
tory of  the  United  States  Public  Health  and  Marine-Hospi- 
tal Service  has  supplied  the  anti-rabic  virus  to  twenty-two 
State  Boards  of  Health,  and  has  demonstrated  that  the  re- 
medy can  be  transmitted  by  mail;  so  that  it  is  not  necessary 
to  make  long  journeys,  as  patients  formerly  had  to  do,  in 
order  to  receive  the  treatment.  In  1890,  Prof,  von  Behring, 
of  Marburg,  announced  that  he  had  learned  how  to  render 
animals  immune  to  diphtheria.  He  was  able,  soon  after,  to 
immunize  children  in  the  same  way.  In  1894,  two  or  three 
Americans,  attending  the  Tenth  International  Congress  on 
Hygiene  and  Demography,  at  Budapest,  heard  the  memorable 
report  of  Prof.  Emile  Roux,  of  Paris,  proving  that  von  Behring 
had,  indeed,  provided  an  immunization  against  diphtheria. 
The  American  delegates  came  home  with  great  news.  In 
1895,  a  little  antitoxin,  very  expensive,  came  over  from 
Germany  and  France.  The  Massachusetts  Board  of  Health 
and  the  Health  Department  of  New  York  City  soon  began  to 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY       115 

make  antitoxin  for  the  use  of  local  physicians.  Antitoxin 
laboratories  were  established  by  several  pharmaceutical 
firms.  The  Census  Report  for  1900  showed  that  the 
diphtheria  mortality  of  the  Registration  Area  had  fallen 
from  97-75  to  482  per  100,000  between  1890  and  1900; 
though  the  supply  of  antitoxin  was  yet  inadequate,  it  was 
still  expensive,  and  many  physicians  were  not  convinced 
of  its  value.  The  Census  Report  for  1910  shows  a  further 
decline  to  21-4  per  100,000.  According  to  these  figures, 
46,000  lives  were  saved  in  the  United  States  in  1900,  and 
69,000  in  1910;  115,000  in  the  two  years;  over  half  a 
million  in  the  decade. 

The  peaceful  victory  of  the  United  States  Army  Medical 
Corps  over  the  chief  difficulties  of  constructing  the  Panama 
Canal  is  an  honor  to  men  of  science  and  rich  with 
promise  for  mankind.  The  Panama  Canal  District  has 
been  damp,  hot,  and  the  habitat  for  malignant  fevers,  for 
centuries.  During  300  years,  the  Spaniards,  who  were 
compelled  to  cross  this  region,  were  slain  by  thousands  by 
the  yellow  fever,  malarial  fever,  and  dysentery.  During 
the  years  1850  to  1855,  when  the  railway  was  under  con- 
struction, the  mortality  was  so  great,  that  several  times 
construction  had  to  stop,  because  the  laboring  force  had. 
died  or  was  sick.  At  one  time,  the  construction  company 
imported  1000  negroes  from  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  and 
within  six  months  these  had  all  died  off.  At  another  time, 
1000  Chinese  laborers  died  in  the  same  way. 

During  the  period  1881  to  1889,  v/hile  the  French 
company  was  pushing  the  construction  of  the  Canal,  they 
lost  22,189,  or  about  240  per  thousand,  per  year.  Since 
that  time,  the  advance  of  tropical  medicine  has  been  great, 
and  the  discovery  that  certain  mosquitoes  transmit  both 
yellow  fever  and  malarial  fever  was  so  important,  that 
the  present  rate  is  only  7-50  per  thousand.  Malaria  has 
been  reduced  from  821  per  thousand  to  187  cases  of  sick- 


1 1 6  BARRO  WS  LECTURES 

ness.    Since   May  1906,   there   has   not  been  a  case  of 
yellow  fever. 

President  Taft  declared  that  Colonel  Gorgas  had 
changed  a  pest-ridden  zone  into  a  district  as  free  from 
disease  as  any  of  the  states  of  the  South  ....  "He  has  made 
the  zone  a  pleasant  place  and  a  healthful  place  to  live  in." 
The  failure  of  the  French  to  build  this  splendid  highway  of 
the  world's  commerce  would  have  been  repeated  by  us  but 
for  medical  science  and  art  bravely  and  effectively  applied. 
There  has  been  greater  progress  during  the  last  fifteen 
years  than  in  the  200  previous  years. 

In  closing  his  paper  on  "Sanitation  at  Panama" 
Dr.  Gorgas  said:  "But  what  I  wish  particularly  to  em- 
phasize is  this:  that  while  the  great  works  in  the  tropical 
sanitation  of  Laveran,  Ross,  Reed,  Finlay,  Carter,  and  many 
others,  have  enabled  the  sanitary  department  on  the  Isthmus 
to  take  a  vital  part  in  the  work  of  building  the  Canal,  this 
is  not  the  greatest  good  that  we  hope,  and  expect,  will 
flow  from  this  conspicuous  object-lesson.  We  hope  that 
our  success  at  Panama  will  induce  other  tropical  countries 
to  try  the  same  measures;  and  that  thereby  gradually  all 
the  tropics  will  be  redeemed  and  made  a  suitable  habitation 
for  the  white  man.  The  expenditure  has  been  about  1  cent 
per  capita  per  day,  and  this  sum  is  well  within  the  means 
of  any  tropical  country." 

Since  the  Spanish-American  War  of  1898,  the  United 
States  for  the  first  time  came  to  be  responsible  for  the 
administration  and  well-being  of  colonies  of  alien  and 
backward  people.  The  commercial  communication  with 
Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and  the  Philippines  had  become  so  close 
that  a  pestilence  in  those  regions  threatened  the  lives  of 
our  own  population  and  compelled  us  to  help  them  in 
order  to  avert  disaster  from  ourselves.  President  Taft,  in 
a  speech  in  1911,  tells  the  story  of  the  army  doctors, 
Walter  Reed  and  others,  who  exposed  their  lives  in  order 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY       117 

to  hunt  down  the  origin  of  yellow  fever  in  Cuba  and  who, 
not  without  martyrdom,  won  success.  When  Porto  Rico 
was  annexed,  the  people  were  suffering  from  tropical 
anaemia,  and  another  army  doctor,  Bailey  K.  Ashford,  dis- 
covered that  this  depressing  malady  was  due  to  the  pre- 
sence in  the  intestines  of  the  "hook-worm",  and  that  it 
yielded  to  treatment.  Half  a  million  people  have  received 
this  treatment  and  have  recovered;  and,  in  due  lime,  the 
island  will  be  delivered  from  this  plague. 

When  we  took  possession  of  the  Philippines,  our 
soldiers  found  cholera,  bubonic  plague,  beriberi,  malaria, 
amoebic  dysentery,  and  leprosy.  Pure  mountain-water  was 
conducted  into  the  towns;  a  new  sewage  system  was 
introduced;  the  people  were  inoculated  with  cholera  lymph; 
they  were  vaccinated  so  generally  that  small-pox  was 
stamped  out;  by  a  crusade  against  rats  and  a  cleaning  up 
of  the  seed-plots  of  disease,  the  bubonic  plague  was  robbed 
of  its  terrors;  by  destruction  of  mosquitoes,  the  ravages 
of  malaria  have  been  reduced;  dysentery  is  brought  under 
subjection;  the  cases  of  leprosy  are  only  16  per  cent  of 
what  they  were  formerly.  By  changing  the  food  from 
polished  to  unpolished  rice,  the  beriberi  disease  has  been 
almost  brought  to  an  end.  One  of  the  most  famous  phy- 
sicians. Dr.  William  H.  Welch,  asserts  that  "our  nation 
has  organized  better  for  scientific  and  practical  sanitary 
work  in  these  possessions  than  it  has  done  at  home." 
This  is  largely  due,  as  Dr.  Weir  Mitchell  pointed  out,  to 
the  fact  that  physicians  in  the  army  had  the  "first  chance 
in  the  history  of  the  world  to  prove  what  the  intelligent 
despotism  of  educated  discipline  can  enable  the  physician 
to  effect  for  mankind."  ^ 

*  I   gratefully   acknowledge   the  States  in  the  colonies.    This  eminent 

aid  of  Lt.  Colonel  J.  R.  Kean,  m.  d.,  officer  himself  was  of  great  service 

Medical  Corps,  U.  S.  Army,  in  bring-  to  Cuba  in  the  second  intervention, 

ing  together  the  documents  relating  1906-1909. 
to  the  sanitary  policy  of  the  United 


1 1 8  BARRO  WS  LECTURES 

The  value  of  the  sanitary  methods  thus  instituted  by 
army  officers  of  the  United  States  is  appreciated  in  Cuba, 
Mexico,  and  other  Spanish-American  States.  Thus,  Pre- 
sident Luco  of  Chile  recently  said: 

"The  spread  of  plague  and  preventable  diseases  has 
been  one  of  the  worst  handicaps  of  tropical  America. 
With  sanitation,  such  as  that  of  Panama,  there  is  no  reason 
why  South  America  should  not  maintain  a  vast  population 
and  support  nations  as  advanced  as  any  in  the  world. 
The  Panama  Canal  opens  the  gateway  to  the  western 
coast  of  the  continent,  and  the  elimination  of  disease  from 
the  Isthmus  renders  an  even  greater  service  to  all  Central 
and  South  America  ....  We  have  decided  that  we  would 
request  Washington  to  lend  us  several  sanitary  experts 
from  Panama,  the  men  whose  services  have  won  for  your 
country  such  undying  fame,  at  least  in  South  America." 
{Journ.  Am.  Med.  Ass.,  July  20,  1912,  p.  201.) 

I  have  dwelt  longer  on  the  discoveries  and  services 
of  my  countrymen  than  on  others,  because  I  naturally  have 
heard  more  about  them.  But  I  do  not  forget  the  services 
of  the  great  medical  leaders  of  other  countries  and  of  India, 
and  I  recall  with  special  satisfaction  a  visit  in  company 
with  the  Rector  of  the  University  of  Liverpool  to  the 
museum  of  tropical  diseases  in  that  institution.  The 
beneficent  activity  of  the  noble  profession  of  medicine 
makes  all  regions  of  the  earth  its  debtors. 

The  results  of  a  scientific  social  policy  in  the  realm 
of  social  faith  confirms  the  faith  which  gave  the  primary 
incentive.  Nothing  so  damps  and  chills  social  faith  as  the 
nightmare  of  doubt,  as  to  the  value  of  effort,  and  the  bur- 
den of  fatalism.  The  attitude  of  faith  in  the  Middle  Ages 
and  that  of  faith  now,  in  the  presence  of  disease,  will  illus- 
trate my  meaning.  During  the  ages  before  the  birth  of 
modern  sciences  of  chemistry,  bacteriology,  and  experi- 
mental physiology,  religious  faith  was  often  deep,  sincere. 


1 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY       119 

self-sacrificing,  tender,  and  organized  for  help;  —  but  it  was 
often  hopeless  before  a  plague  or  a  pestilence.  It  could 
kiss  the  loathsome  sore  of  a  leper,  but  it  could  not  heal; 
it  crowded  the  temples  to  implore  divine  mercy,  but  it  felt 
helpless  to  reach  the  causes  of  the  scourge;  it  looked 
eagerly  for  the  happiness  of  a  future  life,  but  was  pes- 
simistic in  relation  to  this  world.  Then,  and  long  after, 
cholera,  small-pox,  diphtheria,  typhoid  fever,  tuberculosis, 
and  other  diseases  were  regarded  as  beyond  remedy.  All 
love  could  do  was  to  commend  the  soul  to  God  and  hope 
for  future  happiness.  But  modern  physical  science,  applied 
in  wise  and  energetic  social  policies,  has  given  to  faith  a 
new  argument,  a  more  immediate  evidence,  and  a  mighty 
weapon.  What  was  once  universally  regarded  as  a  divine 
judgment  or  a  blind  fate  is  now  seen  to  be  the  effect  of 
certain  definite  and  known  causes,  which  can  be  removed 
by  human  effort. 

Once  men  bowed  in  silence  or  cursed  in  despair,  when 
the  small-pox  or  the  plague  smote  them  and  their  children 
to  the  ground;  now  men  say,  let  us  join  hands  and  purify 
the  drinking  water,  and  enforce  vaccination,  or  kill  the  rats, 
or  destroy  insects  which  bear  the  deadly  germs,  or  drain 
the  marshes  where  mosquitoes  breed,  or  annihilate  poison- 
ous reptiles.  We  face  other  evils  with  more  faith  and 
courage  and  hope,  because  we  have  made  this  brave  record. 
It  is  easier  for  men  to  believe  in  the  Good  God,  and  to 
hold  that  justice  and  mercy  are  "reasonable",  and  duty 
practicable  in  this  present  world.  Such  faith,  won  in  the 
field  of  public  hygiene,  we  carry  over  to  other  national 
and  world  enterprises.  Perhaps  when  death  at  last  be- 
comes inevitable,  natural,  and  merciful,  we  shall  thus  be 
helped  to  face  what  lies  in  the  shadows  beyond,  with  more 
confidence,  just  because  we  have  found  that  faith  in  truth 
and  goodness  works  so  well  in  the  only  life  which  we  know 
by  experience. 


120  BARROWS  LECTURES 


SECTION  TWO:    EDUCATION  AND  MORALITY 

The  connection  between  public  health  and  popular  edu- 
cation is  intimate  and  vital.  Physical  soundness  and  vigor 
are  essential  not  only  to  existence,  but  to  serious  achievements 
in  intellectual  life.  On  the  other  hand,  since  health  depends 
on  conduct,  and  conduct  on  knowledge  and  beliefs,  the 
people  cannot  be  made  strong  and  vigorous  in  spite  of 
themselves;  they  must  be  intelligent,  ambitious,  and  moral; 
they  must  co-operate  in  the  work  of  their  own  redemption, 
even  from  disease  and  weakness.  An  illustration  from  an 
important  movement  in  America  will  make  this  organic  bond 
between  education,  morals,  and  health  more  clear  and  evident. 

An  exceedingly  instructive  experience  in  educational 
enterprises  should  here  be  mentioned,  of  which  full  parti- 
culars can  be  learned  from  the  United  States  Commissioner 
of  Education  at  Washington.  Several  philanthropical  organi- 
zations desired  to  improve  the  schools  and  colleges  of 
certain  regions  of  the  southern  states  of  the  Union,  which 
had  been  held  back  by  isolation  or  where  the  negroes  had 
not  gained  a  start  since  emancipation.  A  thorough  study 
of  the  situation  by  men  of  scientific  training  has  shown 
that  certain  material  conditions  must  be  improved,  before 
the  higher  culture  could  advance  generally  and  hopefully. 
Over  wide  areas  the  people  were  too  poor,  even  if  schools 
were  furnished  free,  to  send  their  children  to  them.  Hence 
these  benevolent  men,  co-operating  with  the  Agricultural 
Department,  set  about  to  improve  their  methods  of  agricul- 
ture, stock-raising  and  market-gardening,  so  that  the  in- 
come of  the  people  was  often  doubled  or  even  quadrupled. 
Dr.  Booker  T.  Washington,  himself  a  colored  man,  leads 
a  movement  to  increase  the  skill,  the  efficiency,  and  the 
industrious  habits  of  his  race. 

Another  obstacle  to  education  and  morality  has  more 
recently  been  discovered  in  the  hook-worm  disease  and 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY       121 

malaria  which  make  men  not  only  anaemic,  but  lazy,  discour- 
aged, and  reckless.  Hence,  the  gift  of  Mr.  J.  D.  Rockefeller, 
of  $  1,000,000,  to  aid  and  stimulate  the  people  to  carry  on 
a  successful  campaign  against  disease.  It  is  said  by  many 
eminent  medical  authorities  that  similar  obstacles  to  edu- 
cation exist  in  India;  that  it  is  not  racial  inferiority,  nor 
incompetence,  nor  even  climate,  but  backwardness  in 
methods  of  production  and  depressing  disease,  which  chief- 
ly hinder  the  rise  of  a  great  and  gifted  people.  These 
are  evils  which  can  be  prevented,  obstacles  which  can  be 
removed.  It  is  difficult  to  transform  race-traits ;  but  thymol 
is  a  remedy  any  victim  of  hook-worm  disease  can  take. 

1.  The  ends  of  education  determine  its  methods,  and 
the  ends  of  education  are  identical  with  those  of  life  itself, 
personal  and  social  life:  physical  efficiency  and  energy, 
mental  alertness  and  power,  worthy  character,  interest  in 
art  and  faith. 

2.  Education,  as  a  process,  has  three  general  methods: 
control  from  without,  or  coercion,  instruction  or  information, 
and  nurture  or  character-building.  Social  reform  and 
amelioration  are  promoted  only  by  an  educational  process, 
taking  the  word  "education"  in  its  true  and  comprehensive 
meaning,  not  acquisition  of  knowledge  alone.  Many  bad 
citizens  in  the  West  can  pass  examinations  better  than 
some  saints.  All  Western  Peoples  have  become  convinced 
of  the  necessity  of  universal  education.  Free  and  modern 
institutions  cannot  be  built  on  the  quicksands  of  general 
ignorance,  untruth,  animal  instincts,  and  selfishness.  Money 
spent  on  good  schools  is  not  an  expense,  but  an  investment. 

3.  The  chief  social  agencies  and  institutions  of  edu- 
cation, which  we  have  through  ages  built  up,  are:  first  of 
all,  the  Home,  under  the  guidance  and  light  of  holy,  beauti- 
ful, and  enlightened  motherhood.  The  family  is  the  primary 
and  fundamental  school  of  character  and  spirituality,  and 
there  educated  women  reign  by  teaching  and  influence. 


122  BARROWS  LECTURES 


The  system  of  national  elementary  schools  is  the 
growth  of  three  hundred  years  of  continuous  effort  and 
sacrifice.  These  schools  take  up  the  process  begun  in 
the  home  and  carry  it  forward;  they  are  the  chief  agency 
for  conveying  the  traditions  and  instruments  of  culture 
from  generation  to  generation.  As  rapidly  as  possible, 
these  schools  are  made  universal,  gratuitous,  and  attendance 
obligatory.  Only  backward  districts  fail  to  aim  at  this 
standard.  Poverty  and  the  lack  of  trained  teachers  are 
obstacles  to  be  overcome.  But  our  nations  are  ready  for 
the  sacrifice,  willing  to  tax  themselves  heavily  to  pay  the 
cost.  The  Renaissance  and  the  Reformation  were  historical 
starting-points  of  this  movement.  Such  great  names  as 
those  of  Luther,  Luis  Vives,  and  Erasmus  glorify  the  story 
which  does  honor  to  mankind.  Despotism,  superstition, 
and  class  privilege  dread  the  public  school,  and  thrones 
of  injustice,  though  supported  by  armies,  totter  in  the 
presence  of  the  schoolmistress. 

The  Churches,  no  longer  dissipating  energy  and 
money  on  bitter  controversies,  have  learned  to  co-operate 
with  the  State,  especially  in  the  moral  and  religious  edu- 
cation of  the  rising  generation.  Out  of  the  Churches  have 
sprung  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  and  other 
rich  and  powerful  institutions  which  supplement  the  public 
schools  without  antagonism  and  in  full  sympathy.  In 
some  lands  religion  is  also  taught  in  State  schools,  as  in 
Germany;  while  in  France  and  some  of  the  American 
States,  in  order  to  avoid  theological  disputes  and  injustice 
to  those  who  doubt  or  reject  the  popular  creeds,  the 
schools  are  neutral  in  religion  and  leave  it  to  the  family 
and  Church  for  cultivation.  But  everywhere  a  high  morality 
is  taught;  teachers  are  selected  for  character  as  well  as 
for  intelligence;  and  the  national  literature,  history,  bio- 
graphy and  music  keep  religion  and  goodness  attractively 
before  the  mind.    The  main  agency  of  religious  culture, 


PUBLIC  HEALTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  MORALITY       123 

however,  is  that  institution  which  is  specially  fitted  for 
the  task,  that  is  the  Church;  and  it  is  organizing  its  forces 
to  meet  its  educational  responsibilities. 

In  both  secondary  and  higher  education  the  states  are 
increasing  their  activity,  by  establishing  and  supporting 
academies,  high  schools,  colleges,  and  universities.  In 
the  region  where  I  live,  this  public  activity  is  carried  so 
far  that  the  child  of  a  poor  family,  if  properly  endowed  by 
nature,  can  hope  to  pass  through  u  course  of  education 
of  eighteen  years  without  paying  one  dollar  for  instruction, 
from  kindergarten  to  the  highest  degrees  of  the  state  uni- 
versity. In  the  private  colleges  and  universities,  this  expense 
may  be  met  by  scholarships  provided  by  wealthy  benefactors. 
In  this  way,  it  has  been  possible  for  many  a  bright  youth  to 
gain  admission  to  the  highest  and  most  honorable  positions 
in  national  life,  though  their  origin  was  lowly  and  obscure, 
and  their  poverty  was  oppressive. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  in  the  advanced  nations 
of  the  West  all  the  people  can  read  and  write.  There  is 
a  great  demand  for  daily  newspapers  which  are  cheap  and, 
with  many  serious  faults,  are  instructive;  for  they  constantly 
widen  the  range  of  ideas  of  the  toiling  multitudes  and 
prepare  them  to  take  an  intelligent  part  in  industry  and 
politics.  It  is  not  necessary  to  spend  much  money  for  books, 
because  the  free  public  libraries  are  everywhere,  and  in 
the  country,  travelling  libraries  bring  the  best  literature  to 
the  door  of  the  farmer.  Women  share  in  the  discussion 
of  all  subjects  of  large  interest.  When  public  funds  are 
inadequate,  vast  sums  are  given  by  rich  men  to  supplement 
them;  for  great  schools  and  libraries  are  nobler  monuments 
and  bring  greater  honor  than  triumphal  arches  and  pyra- 
mids of  granite. 

At  the  foundation  of  all  is  the  universal  recognition, 
in  morality  and  law,  of  the  duty  of  parents  to  protect, 
maintain,   and   educate   their  own  children;    and  society 


124 


BARROWS  LECTURES 


makes  it  possible  to  perform  this  duty  by  providing  schools, 
teachers,  books,  and  all  else  needful,  even  for  the  poorest; 
and  when  they  are  negligent,  it  compels  them  to  fulfil  their 
moral  and  legal  obligations.  Thus  the  institutions  of 
home,  of  Church,  of  government,  and  of  private  founda- 
tions co-operate  in  the  national  work  of  perparing  a  free 
people  for  its  sublime  career  of  endless  progress.  We  are 
taught  to  honor  our  ancestors,  not  by  imitating  them 
and  copying  their  errors,  but  by  carrying  forward  the  work 
which  they  nobly  began  and  to  which  in  their  day  they 
contributed  so  much. 


LECTURE  FIVE 

MOVEMENTS  TO  IMPROVE  THE  ECONOMIC  AND 
CULTURAL  SITUATION  OF  WAGE-EARNERS 

In  former  ages,  in  Europe,  the  humbler  tasks  of  society 
were  performed  by  slaves  or  serfs.  In  England,  the  laborers 
were  passing  from  serfdom  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and 
the  Great  Plague  of  1378  hastened  their  emancipation.  In 
Germany,  this  liberation  was  much  later,  and  was  not  com- 
pleted until  the  nineteenth  century.  In  Russia,  this  stage 
was  nominally  passed  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  In 
France,  the  Revolution  of  the  eighteenth  century  shook  the 
old  order.  In  my  own  country,  I  am  sorry  and  ashamed  to 
say,  negro  slavery  was  not  shaken  off  until  our  terrible 
Civil  War;  then  the  African  bondmen  passed  at  once  from 
slavery  to  freedom  and  citizenship  without  going  through 
the  stage  of  serfdom. 

But  freedom  is  not  the  only  desirable  object  of  life; 
precious  as  liberty  is,  men  need  also  bread,  shelter,  clothing, 
comfort,  security,  education.  The  transition  to  the  higher 
stage  is  slow  and  uncertain,  and  attended  by  grave  suffering 
and  wrong.  For  example,  the  negro  house-slaves  in  Ame- 
rica were  physically  more  comfortable  and  secure  in  sickness 
and  old  age  than  many  of  them  have  been,  since  the  regime 
of  freedom  began. 

Lawless  men  turned  adrift,  without  tools  or  capital 
or  occupation,  must  resort  to  mendicancy,  vagabondage, 
theft,  or  violent  crime;  and  one  leads  to  another.  Many  who 
escape  these  evils  still  live  on  the  brink  of  starvation,  and 
their  families  are  exposed  to  extreme  deprivation,  and  they 
often  become  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  living  upon  charity, 
especially  in  sickness  and  old  age. 


126  BARROWS  LECTURES 

The  "Labor  Movement"  of  the  West  is  the  result  of  a 
growing,  deepening,  and  already  general  conviction  that 
this  condition  is  intolerable  and  unnecessary,  and  that 
gradual  amelioration  is  possible  and  obligatory. 

The  extension  of  popular  education  has  made  more 
wage-earners  intelligent;  the  great  industry  has  brought 
them  together  and  made  them  "class  conscious".  Meantime, 
the  general  public  has  become  morally  sensitive. 

In  the  United  States,  we  have  all  the  problems  of  all 
the  countries  of  Europe,  especially  of  the  poorest  and  most 
backward.  It  is  true,  we  have  immense  advantages  over 
Europe:  1.  Cheap  and  plenty  raw  materials  of  industry, — 
forests,  mines.  2,  We  are  still  chiefly  an  agricultural 
people,  and  families  can  escape  cities,  if  they  desire  to 
build  themselves  homes  on  the  land.  3.  Our  development 
of  the  Great  Industry  by  invention,  and  use  of  inventions, 
and  science  has  been  marvellous;  but  it  is  recent,  limited 
in  area,  and  only  fairly  begun. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  we  have  what  no  European 
country  has:  1.  A  throng  of  foreign  immigrants, — poor, 
ignorant,  un-American,  who  crowd  the  low-paid  industries 
of  our  cities,  and  create  slums  there,  and  become  tools 
of  corrupt  politicians;  this,  chiefly  in  cities  of  the  North. 
2.  The  emancipated  negro  population  of  the  South,  not  yet 
prepared  to  take  a  place  in  industry,  not  yet  under  moral 
self-control,  and  the  suffering  victims  of  race  antagonism  of 
the  whites. 

To  meet  the  demands  of  this  situation,  we  have  as  yet 
not  escaped  the  economico-political  laissez-faire  convic- 
tions which  Germany  first,  and  later  Great  Britain,  have  in 
greater  degree  shaken  off.  We  cannot  save  our  nation 
without  a  vigorous,  consistent,  progressive  policy,  which  is 
now  in  process  of  formation. 

Such  a  policy  is  at  hand.  It  is  in  1912  the  chief  issue 
of   factions    within    parties    and    of    parties    themselves. 


IMPROVEMENTS  FOR  WAGE-EARNERS  127 

M.  Leon  Bourgeois,  minister  of  Labor  in  France,  declares 
this  tendency  to  be  general:  "In  France  and  outside  of 
France  the  questions  of  politics,  pure  and  simple,  give  way 

to  discussions  of  social  requirements; majorities  and 

minorities  group  themselves  exclusively  on  the  field  of  eco- 
nomic struggle"  {Solidarite,  1912,  p.  4). 

The  economic  and  legal  system  under  which  we  live, 
has  the  following  characteristics:  1.  Land  and  the  materials 
and  instruments  of  production  are  private  property;  and 
property  rights  thus  held  by  individuals  or  by  artificial 
persons  (corporations)  are  protected  by  law  and  by  all  the 
force  of  government.  2.  The  management  and  control  of 
capital,  for  the  most  part,  is  in  the  hands  of  owners  of  pro- 
perty. This  involves  the  control  of  hours  of  labor,  physi- 
cal conditions  of  the  shop,  and  proper  treatment  by  foremen. 

3.  The  product  of  industry  and  trade,  after  the  expenses  of 
business  are  paid,  belongs  entirely  to  the  owners  and 
managers;   and   the   wage-earners   have   no  claim  on  it. 

4.  The  operative  workmen  are  paid  for  their  labor  in 
wages  or  salaries,  for  the  time  they  are  hired  and  occupied, 
and  not  longer.  No  workman  has  any  legal  right  to  be 
employed  by  any  particular  manager  or  capitalist.  5.  Both 
employer  and  wage-earner  are  legally  free  to  make  any 
sort  of  a  contract  they  may  agree  to  accept,  relating  to 
wages,  hours,  and  conditions. 

Public  opinion  in  relation  to  "free  contract".  During 
the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  up  to  about 
1870,  the  theory  was  generally  accepted  and  embodied  in 
legislation  that  a  regime  of  entire  freedom  is  best;  that  the 
State  should  not  interfere  except  to  assure  order  and  secu- 
rity of  life  and  property;  that  with  entire  liberty  on  all 
sides  progress  was  certain,  capitalist  managers  would  re- 
ceive their  just  interest  and  profits,  land  its  proper  rent, 
labor  its  fair  wages. 


128  BARROWS  LECTURES 

But,  with  experience,  the  peoples  of  the  Occident  have 
come  to  believe  that  this  confidence  in  unregulated  freedom 
was  a  delusion;  that  a  policy  of  neglect  is  not  sage;  that 
the  help  of  government  is  required  to  repress  the  selfish- 
ness of  arbitrary  power,  and  secure  decent  human  con- 
ditions of  life  for  wage-earners  who  are  helpless,  without 
occupation,  and  are  therefore  at  a  disadvantage,  in  compari- 
son with  those  who  control  machinery,  factories,  mines, 
mills,  railways,  and  commerce. 

In  recent  years,  the  peoples  of  the  Occident,  under  the 
leadership  of  Germany,  have  come  to  take  an  entirely  differ- 
ent view  of  the  relation  of  economic  life  to  government. 
In  respect  to  government  itself,  we  have  grown  into  the 
conviction  that  it  is  simply  one  of  the  organs  of  the  will 
of  the  people,  one  of  the  tools  it  can  use  for  the  common 
welfare.  In  respect  to  the  huge  corporations,  which  have 
under  a  regime  of  freedom  largely  suppressed  free  com- 
petition, have  sometimes  bought  favorable  legislation 
and  corrupted  courts,  have  dealt  dishonestly  with  stock- 
holders and  burdened  tax-payers  and  consumers,  few  will 
now  deny  the  necessity  for  governmental  protection.  We 
can  say  this  without  suggesting  that  the  majority  of  capi- 
talists are  unscrupulous  or  inhumane;  and  we  wish  the 
criticism  to  strike  only  the  guilty. 

The  wage-earners  and  their  families  are  so  numerous, 
so  essential  to  the  productive  enterprise  of  a  nation,  and 
their  welfare  is  so  sacred  a  right,  that  the  peoples  of  the 
West  have  developed  a  policy,  which,  in  its  main  outlines, 
it  is  the  purpose  of  this  lecture  to  describe,  to  interpret, 
and  to  justify. 

The  new  politico-economic  social  conscience,  the  sense 
of  solidarity  of  interest  and  moral  obligation,  has  found 
expression  not  only  in  the  fiery  writings  and  speeches  of 
labor  agitators,  but  in  the  earnest  words  of  responsible 
representatives  of  wealth,  enterprise,  and  political  force. 


IMPROVEMENTS  FOR  WAGE-EARNERS  129 

We  have  the  right  to  cite  the  language  of  an  eminent 
capitalist  who  is  at  the  same  time  a  systematic  student  of 
social  science  and  practical  problems,  Mr.Seebohm  Rowntree, 
head  of  a  great  English  firm  of  manufacturers.  He  urges 
the  Churches  to  arouse  the  influential  to  the  clearer  recog- 
nition of  brotherhood  and  its  obligations: 

"Had  they  played  their  part  in  making  us  vitally  con- 
scious", writes  Mr,  Rowntree,  "that  all  our  opportunities 
and  talents  and  possessions  should  be  regarded  as  a  trust, 
to  be  utilized,  not  for  our  own  ends,  but  for  the  benefit 
of  the  community,  we  should  never  have  heard  of  labor 
unrest. 

"It  is  because  we  have  forgotten  our  trust  that  labor 
rises  and  says  to  us:  'If  neither  love  nor  justice  can  in- 
duce you  to  share  the  good  things  of  the  world  with  your 
co-workers  on  fair  terms,  we,  who  have  suffered  for  gener- 
ations, must  demand  our  share  by  force.' 

"We  must  recognize  that,  if  justice  is  to  be  done  to  the 
workers,  it  will  mean  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  the  rich.  No 
doubt,  as  the  demand  for  higher  wages  and  better  condi- 
tions of  work  becomes  more  insistent,  the  employing  classes 
will  improve  their  methods  of  organization,  and  in  many 
industries  great  improvements  can  be  made  in  the  lot  of 
the  workers  without  materially  lessening  the  earnings  of 
capital.  But  this  will  not  solve  the  problem.  The  poverty 
at  one  end  of  the  social  scale  will  not  be  removed  except 
by  encroaching  heavily  upon  the  great  riches  at  the  other 
end.  I  think,  during  the  next  few  years,  we  shall  see 
labor  organized  more  effectively  than  ever  before,  suc- 
cessfully demanding  a  much  larger  share  of  the  wealth 
annually  produced." 

The  doctrine  of  social  justice  for  all  has  been  thus 
voiced  by  one  of  the  leading  American  newspapers  in  an 
editorial  article: 


1 30  BARRO  WS  LECTURES 

"The  Rich  Man  and  Social  Justice." 

"Men  in  the  full  pride  of  wealth,  honor,  and  worldly 
influence  are  not  apt  to  realize  how  short-lived  is  the 
structure  they  have  built.  They  do  not  think  how,  in  spite 
of  all  their  personal  skill  and  earnest  effort,  it  must  meet 
the  shocks  of  life  or  crumble  away  under  the  disinte- 
grating forces  of  society — the  very  forces  which  they  have 
used  in  its  building. 

"The  rich  man  may,  by  great  caution,  protect  his  child. 
His  grandchild,  whom  he  loves  as  well,  may  die  in  the 
poorhouse  or  the  gutter,  in  spite  of  all  he  has  done  or 
could  do.  There  is  but  one  way  to  prevent  that:  to  work 
against  those  conditions  which  create  or  perpetuate  social 
suffering.  That  is  the  rich  man's  personal  interest  in  fight- 
ing for  social  justice,  against  the  terrible  curse  of  poverty, 
for  better  conditions  of  life  for  the  millions. 

"For,  he  himself,  or  his  child  that  he  loves  better  than 
himself,  or  his  child's  child  may  be  among  those  millions, 
the  most  wretched  and  helpless  atom  of  them  all. 

"It  is  this  grave  truth  of  life  with  which  Col.  Roosevelt 
dealt  in  the  splendid  peroration  of  his  speech  at  Louisville: 

"I  ask  justice  for  the  weak,  for  their  sake ;  and  I  ask  it  for  the 
sake  of  our  children,  and  our  children's  children,  who  ar-?  to  come 
after  us.  This  country  will  not  be  a  good  place  for  any  of  us,  if  it  is 
not  a  reasonably  good  place  for  all  of  us. 

"When  I  plead  the  cause  of  the  crippled  brakeman  on  a  railroad, 
of  the  overworked  girl  in  a  factory,  of  the  stunted  child  toiling  at 
inhuman  labor,  of  all  who  work  excessively  or  in  unhealthy  sur- 
roundings, of  the  family  dwelling  in  the  squalor  of  a  noisome  tene- 
ment, of  the  worn-out  farmer  in  regions  where  the  farms  are  worn 
out  also;  when  I  protest  against  the  unfair  profits  of  unscrupulous 
and  conscienceless  men  or  against  the  greedy  exploitation  of  the 
helpless  by  the  beneficiaries  of  privilege,  I  am  not  only  fighting  for 
the  weak,  I  am  fighting  for  the  strong. 

"The  sons  of  all  of  us  will  pay  in  the  futu-'c,  if  we  of  the  present 
do  not  do  justice  to  the  present.    If  the  fathers  cause  others  to  eat 


IMPROVEMENTS  FOR  WAGE-EARNERS  131 

bitter  bread,  the  teeth  of  their  own  sons  shall  be  set  on  edge.  Our 
cause  is  the  cause  of  justice  for  all,  in  the  interest  of  all.  Surely, 
there  never  was  a  cause  in  which  it  was  better  worth  while  to  spend 
and  be  spent. 

"Is  it  too  much  to  ask  the  men  who  wittingly  or  un- 
wittingly throw  all  their  energy  into  amassing  property 
and  against  even  the  most  rational  and  temperate  measures 
for  bringing  about  a  larger  social  equity  and  security — 
is  it  too  much  to  ask  that  such  men  stop  to  consider  their 
own  interest  in  the  profound  truth  Col.  Roosevelt  has  here 
so  eloquently  phrased?"  (Tribune,  Chicago,  April  7,  1912.) 

This  editorial  from  a  rich  and  influential  American 
newspaper  may  be  taken  as  typical  of  the  more  recent 
views  of  leaders  of  thought  in  the  West,  at  least  of  the 
main  stream  of  tendency,  not  merely  in  a  faction  of  one 
party,  but  among  men  of  clear  moral  vision  in  all  parties 
in  America  and  Europe. 

Mr.  Elbert  H.  Gary,  chairman  of  the  United  States  Steel 
Corporation,  speaking  at  a  rich  men's  banquet  in  New 
York  City,  February  10,  1912,  is  reported  as  having  made 
this  appeal  to  his  fellow  magnates,  whose  words  fix  the 
destinies  of  many  thousands  of  workmen  and  their  families: 

"We,  who  have  great  power  and  influence  in  the  affairs 
of  the  country,  have  not  all  of  us  done  the  fair  thing.  It 
is  imperative  that  something  be  done  to  improve  the 
conditions  of  mankind.  Cannot  we  ourselves  do  something 
to  improve  that  condition?  Unless  capitalists,  corporations, 
rich  men,  powerful  men  themselves  take  a  leading  part 
in  trying  to  improve  the  conditions  of  humanity,  great 
changes  will  come  quickly,  and  the  mob  will  bring  more. 
I  appeal  to  you  that  in  your  dealings  with  men  under  you, 
you  take  great  care  to  be  sure  that  you  are  doing  the 
square  thing  by  them." 

The  reference  to  the  "mob"  is,  of  course,  irritating  to 
a  democratic  people,  and  the  implied  claim  of  superiority 


132 


BARROWS  LECTURES 


is  resented;  but  the  speech,  as  quoted,  does  show  that 
those  who  manage  the  great  industries  are  awalcened  by 
fear,  anxiety,  remorse,  justice,  and  philanthropy,  and  are 
thinking  of  having  a  share  in  initiating  improvement, 
without  waiting  for  mutiny  and  force  to  compel  them. 

The  educated  classes,  apart  from  industry  and  busi- 
ness, are  also  becoming  more  sensitive  to  social  wrong. 

Elizabeth  Gibson  Cheney,  wife  of  Canon  Cheney,  the 
great  Bible  scholar  of  England  and  editor  of  the  Encyclo- 
pedia Biblica,  wrote: 

Whenever  there  is  silence  around  me, 

By  day  or  by  night, 

I  am  startled  by  the  cry, 
It  came  down  from  the  Cross. 

The  first  time  I  heard  it 
I  went  out  and  searched, 
And  found  a  man  in  the  throes  of  crucifixion; 
And  I  said,  "1  will  take  you  down." 

And  1  tried  to  take  the  nails  out  of  his  feet, 

But  he  said,  "Let  them  be, 

For  I  cannot  be  taken  down 

Until  every  man,  every  woman,  and  every  child 

Come  together  to  take  me  down  ". 

And  I  said,  "But  I  cannot  bear  your  cry; 
What  can  I  do?" 

And  he  said,  "Go  about  the  world; 
Tell  every  one  you  meet  : 
There  is  a  man  on  the  cross". 

The  economic  policy  of  the  Occident  in  relation  to 
wage-earners  is  the  concrete  expression  in  legislation  and 
custom  of  the  ethical  requirements  already  expressed  in 
general  terms. 

I.  Legally  regulated  and  protected  liberty  of  voluntary 
organizations  of  wage-earners  to  advance  their  ov/n  inter- 
ests. It  has  cost  us  time,  suffering,  and  loss  to  learn  the 
simple  and  obvious  lesson  that  the  wage-earners  are  more 


IMPROVEMENTS  FOR  WAGE-EARNERS  133 

directly,  feelingly,  and  continuously  interested  in  their  own 
economic  welfare  than  any  other  persons  can  possibly  be. 
As  the  wage-earners  have  grown  in  intelligence,  with  the 
help  of  the  common  schools,  cheap  printing,  and  free 
discussions,  they  have  developed  capacity  for  organization 
and  administration,  and  have  produced  leaders  of  ability 
and  good  judgment.  On  the  other  hand,  through  their 
experiments,  both  successful  and  disappointing,  they  have 
learned  the  difficulties  of  business  management  and  respect 
for  men  of  enterprise. 

a)  In  respect  to  mutual  benefit  societies  of  wage- 
earners  there  is  no  serious  difference  of  opinion  and  no 
collision  of  interests.  For  example,  there  are  various 
forms  of  fraternal  associations,  savings  associations,  sick- 
ness funds,  insurance  societies,  building  and  loan  associ- 
ations, co-operative  societies  of  consumers.  All  these 
organizations  have  full  legal  recognition  and  rights  of 
corporate  bodies  which  enable  them  to  plead  in  courts, 
hold  estates,  and  transact  business. 

b)  When  we  come  to  the  trade-unions,  we  have  a 
knotty  problem,  and  a  wide  divergence  of  views.  The 
central  and  direct  purpose  of  a  trade-union  is  to  promote 
collective  bargaining,  and,  incidentally,  perhaps  increas- 
ingly, to  secure  favorable  legislation. 

Collective  bargaining.  The  modern  employing  cor- 
poration is  often  a  colossal  organization.  Over  against  a 
combination  representing  millions  of  capital  the  individual 
wage-earner  is  a  pigmy.  Legally  he  is  free  to  accept  or 
refuse  the  offer  of  the  capitalist;  but  this  legal  freedom  is 
in  reality  a  mockery;  in  sober  reality  the  isolated  individual 
is  compelled  to  accept  any  terms  offered  him, — always 
remembering  that  employers  to  some  extent  compete  for 
labor,  and  that  moral  considerations  have  some  weight. 
But  apart  from  such  mitigating  influences,  the  individual 
wage-earner  has  no  voice  in  the  conditions  under  which 


134  BARROWS  LECTURES 

he  sells  his  labor,  and  he  agrees  to  do  the  bidding  of 
the  master. 

But  if  the  men  can  combine,  as  the  capitalists  do, 
they  become  stronger;  they  can  voice  their  demands  through 
their  own  chosen  representatives.  Their  "strike",  or 
refusal  to  work  until  better  terms  are  offered,  becomes  a 
serious  matter  which  cannot  be  ignored.  By  accumulating 
strike  funds,  and  by  assisting  each  other  in  conflict,  the 
unions  enable  their  members  to  hold  out  until  the  employers 
are  more  willing  to  yield  to  their  demands. 

The  organizations  of  the  wage-earners  are  the  train- 
ing school  of  politics  for  the  voters.  Skill  and  ability  in 
government  do  not  come  from  practice  in  rhetorical  speeches, 
but  in  actual  experience  with  the  government  and  admin- 
istration of  some  social  organization  where  pecuniary  and 
business  interests  are  involved.  Thus  the  trade-unions, 
the  friendly  and  fraternal  societies,  the  co-operative  stores, 
the  building  and  loan  associations  furnish  to  millions  of 
working-men  actual  practice  in  the  regulation  and  manage- 
ment of  affairs.  This  is  vitally  important,  because  wage- 
earners  are  cut  off  from  the  control  and  direction  of 
factories,  banks,  and  shipping,  and  are  in  danger  of  losing 
all  understanding  for  large  financial  affairs.  In  their  own 
organizations  this  defect  is  supplied  and  the  people  are 
kept  in  touch  with  vast  enterprises  which  touch  their 
economic  interests  and  call  for  the  exercise  of  self-control, 
judgment  of  business,  and  an  understanding  of  the  dangers 
and  difficulties  of  enterprises.  This  helps  to  keep  them 
free  from  impracticable  Utopias  and  radical  revolutionary 
schemes,  and  critical  of  voluble  orators  who  are  liberal  in 
the  offer  of  rainbows  to  subservient  and  excitable  followers 
(see  S.  &  B.  Webb,  Industrial  Democracy). 

Antagonism  of  employers.  Employers,  as  a  rule,  do 
not  like  the  trade-unions,  although  they  are  legally  recog- 
nized.   This  antagonism  is  natural:  there  is  a  real  conflict 


IMPROVEMENTS  FOR  WAGE-EARNERS  135 

of  interests.  It  is  true,  capital  and  labor  must  unite,  just  as 
merchant  and  purchaser  have  a  common  desire  to  agree; 
but  in  both  cases  there  is  a  borderland  of  conflict,  —  what 
one  gains  the  other  loses.  The  conflict  is  inevitable,  yet 
it  must  be  compromised  by  bargaining,  or  the  world's  life 
would  come  to  a  sudden  ending. 

Legal  responsibility  of  trade-unions.  Evidently,  the 
unions  have  become  a  power.  Like  all  forces  they  require 
regulation  in  the  common  interest.  Therefore,  it  has  been 
necessary  to  define  and  limit  their  actions  by  law,  so  that 
they  shall  be  held  to  conduct  which  is  in  harmony  with 
the  general  interests.  As  the  associations  of  employers 
represent  one  special  class  interest,  and  the  trade-unions 
another,  so  the  governinent  stands  for  the  harmony  of  all 
special  interests  in  the  welfare  of  all.  The  final  word 
must  be  spoken  by  the  organ  of  the  public  will. 

Conciliation  and  arbitration.  In  order  to  facilitate 
the  bargaining  between  capital  and  labor,  employers  and 
employes,  experiments  have  been  tried  with  boards  of 
conciliation  and  arbitration.  Many  of  these  boards  are 
informal,  formed  by  employers  and  employes,  to  settle 
some  dispute  about  wages  or  other  conditions.  But  the 
tendency  is  to  establish  regular  councils,  clothed  with 
certain  legal  authority,  and  ready  at  any  moment  to  assist 
in  the  settlement  of  conflict  or,  better  still,  to  avert  coming 
trouble. 

Thus  far,  compulsory  arbitration  has  not  been  found 
generally  practicable,  because  capitalists  cannot  be  com- 
pelled to  run  their  works  at  a  loss,  and,  on  the  other  side, 
wage-earners  will  not  work  on  unfavorable  terms;  and  no 
satisfactory  way  has  been  found  for  requiring  them  to  labor 
for  lower  wages  than  they  believe  they  ought  to  have. 

But  boards  of  conciliation  have  probably  mitigated  the 
evils  of  strife  by  bringing  public  opinion  to  bear  on  un- 
reasonable parlies;    by  offering  friendly   suggestions  of 


1 36  BARRO  WS  LECTURES 

settlement,  and  by  securing  time  for  sober  and  rational 
discussion  of  differences.* 

II.  The  income  of  wage-earners  is  affected  by  their 
conditions  of  health  and  bodily  integrity.  The  sound  and 
vigorous  man  can  earn  more  than  the  crippled  or  diseased 
workman.  From  the  standpoint  of  economic  welfare  the 
protection  of  life,  limb,  and  health  is  vastly  important.  We 
have  devoted  a  special  lecture  to  the  movement  in  the 
Occident  to  conserve  the  physical  forces  of  the  workmen, 
which  is  at  the  same  time  a  means  of  improving  the  income 
of  the  people. 

III.  The  effort  to  establish  a  minimum  wage.  When 
all  the  world  believed  in  laissez-faire,  and  thought  that  it 
was  a  reflection  on  Divine  Providence  to  attempt  inter- 
ference with  the  all-wise  method  of  fixing  wages  by  compe- 
tition pure  and  simple,  the  demand  to  fix  the  lower  range 
of  wages  was  regarded  as  absurd. 

It  is  true  that  the  "ruling  classes"  in  former  times, 
in  the  fourteenth  century,  as  in  the  "Statute  of  Laborers", 
had  fixed  a  maximum  wage,  above  which  the  rewards  of 
toil  should  not  go;  but  for  a  long  time,  competition  has 
been  treated  with  almost  superstitious  awe,  as  a  sacred 
rite.  The  employers  generally  have  felt  morally  justified 
in  getting  work  done  as  cheaply  as  they  could  find  compe- 
tent persons  willing  to  hire  themselves.  In  some  classes 
of  labor  this  rate  is  entirely  insufficient  to  support  a  decent 
human  existence.  This  is  especially  true,  where  children 
can  do  the  task,  or  where  women  and  ignorant  or  hungry 
men  can  be  employed,  and  where  there  are  no  trade-unions 
to  help  with  collective  bargaining. 


*  Bulletin  of  U.  S.  Bureau  of  La-      agencies  of  conciliation   and   arbi- 
bor,  No.  98,  (Jan.  1912),  gives  a  full      tration. 
account  of  American  and  European 


IMPROVEMENTS  FOR  WAGE-EARNERS  137 

The  advocates  of  a  minimum  wage  start  from  an 
entirely  different  point  of  view;  they  seek  to  discover  first 
of  all  what  is  necessary  to  support  human  life  —  not  mere 
animal  existence,  —  and  to  secure  a  share  in  the  common 
heritage  and  estate  of  our  humanity.  Then  they  would 
fix  the  lowest  wage  at  this  level  and  leave  to  superior 
ability,  skill,  and  organization  the  task  of  securing  higher 
wages  for  higher  service.  The  commodities  of  life,  now 
created  by  this  lowest  group,  would  probably  be  somewhat 
higher  to  the  body  of  consumers;  but  these  should  not  be 
willing  to  live  and  enjoy  comforts  at  the  cost  of  the  star- 
vation or  degradation  of  their  fellow  citizens.  The  older 
method  was  to  be  sure  of  profits  and  to  organize  industry 
to  that  end;  the  more  recent  method  is  to  discover  what 
is  necessary  for  human  life,  and  adjust  wages  and  prices 
to  that  end.  Evidently,  business  will  not  be  carried  on 
without  profits.  Can  the  latter  purpose  be  realized  with- 
out destroying  the  incentive  to  business  management?  This 
is  our  problem. 

The  general  principle  of  the  minimum  wage  has  been 
quite  widely  accepted,  and  a  beginning  of  legislation  in  this 
direction  has  been  made;  but  there  is  no  agreement  among 
economists,  as  yet,  as  to  the  practicability  of  this  measure. 

The  minimum  wage  has  been  approximated  both  in- 
directly and  directly.  Indirectly,  by  forbidding  the  exploi- 
tation of  young  children,  by  raising  the  standard  of  housing, 
by  shortening  the  hours  of  labor  for  women  and,  in  some 
industries,  for  men,  and  by  social  insurance. 

Wherever  a  people  enacts  a  poor-law,  it  recognizes 
the  right  to  live,  and  Occidental  countries  have  steadily 
improved  the  standard  of  comfort  for  indigent  persons  and 
criminals,  until  their  situation  is  actually  more  sure  and 
comfortable  than  that  of  many  who  try  to  live  on  wages. 
It  is  not  a  question  whether  a  nation  must  support  all  its 
citizens;  that  is  conceded;  the  question  is  whether  it  will 


1 38  BARRO  WS  LECTUERS 

pay  them  wages  enough  so  that  they  can  earn  their  living 
without  stealing  or  begging  or  vice. 

Directly,  though  as  yet  on  a  limited  scale,  Great  Britain 
and  some  of  her  Colonies  have  led  the  way  for  other 
nations,  by  minimum  wage  requirements  in  certain  callings. 

Minimum  Wage  Boards.^ 

Mrs.  Florence  Kelly  defines  a  socially  subnormal 
industry  as  one  which  "regularly  and  permanently  produces 
wholesale  poverty,  when  it  pays  wages  so  low  that  a 
workman  engaged  in  it  cannot  maintain  his  wife  and  four 
children,  but  must  rely  upon  them  for  a  part  of  the  family 
support;  when  it  minimizes  the  employment  of  men,  substi- 
tuting women  and  children  for  them;  when  it  pays  to  an 
average,  normal  woman-worker,  dependent  upon  herself, 
a  wage  upon  which  she  cannot  live".  It  has  been  found 
that  several  industries  have  furnished  cheap  commodities 
to  the  consumers  and  paid  heavy  dividends  to  stockholders 
and  millionaire  managers,  while  the  employes  are  paid  so 
little  that  they  sink  in  starvation,  disease,  pauperism,  and 
vice.  Such  industries  are  parasitic,  since  they  do  not  pay 
the  costs  of  production;  they  are  also  often  predatory, 
because  they  resist  all  vigorous  and  effective  measures  of 
improvement. 

Minimum  Wage  Boards  have  been  successful  for  eigh- 
teen years  in  Australasia;  they  have  been  introduced  into 
England;  and  it  is  only  a  question  of  a  little  time  when 
states  of  the  American  Union  will  put  them  to  the  test  of 
experiment.  Massachusetts,  that  great  state  which  has  so 
often  been  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  leader  of  American 
commonwealths,  has  (in  1912)  already  enacted  a  minimum 
wage  law,  based  on  the  principles  of  the  British  Act. 

^  Artide  in  Amer.  Jour.  Sociology,       mission  on  Minimum  Wage  Board, 
Nov.  1911.— Report  of  the  Cora-       Massachusetts,  1912. 


IMPROVEMENTS  FOR  WAGE-EARNERS  139 

IV.  Industrial  Training.  It  has  come  to  be  generally 
believed  in  the  Occident  that  the  improvement  of  income 
is  vitally  connected  with  industrial  efficiency.  The  product 
of  an  individual  industry  or  that  of  a  commonwealth  may  be 
increased  by  many  factors  co-operating:  superior  manage- 
ment, excellent  organization  of  the  factory  or  mill,  good 
credit,  and  abundant  capital  on  the  side  of  the  capitalist, 
and  physical  energy,  reliable  health,  skill,  pride  in  the 
work,  friendly  and  cheerful  disposition,  honesty  and  all 
good  qualities  on  the  side  of  the  industrial  operatives.  Out 
of  the  product  must  be  paid  rent,  interest,  taxes,  insurance, 
profits,  wages.  The  larger  the  product  per  unit  of  labor 
and  capital,  the  more  there  will  be  to  divide. 

The  education  of  the  wage-earners  from  childhood  up- 
ward, is,  therefore,  of  significance  for  all  classes  in  a  nation. 

But  the  word  "education"  must  be  taken  in  its  widest 
and  deepest  meaning,  as  the  full  development  of  capacities 
of  body,  mind,  character,  and  special  skill. 

Law  may  do  something  to  compel  employers  to  raise 
the  miserable  wages  of  the  poorest  to  a  decent  level;  and 
trade-unions  by  collective  bargaining  may  bring  pressure 
to  bear,  which  cannot  be  ignored ;  but  no  sort  of  force  can 
permanently  raise  wages  in  all  groups  of  operations  beyond 
what  the  product  can  yield  and  still  leave  a  motive  to 
capital  and  to  management.  We  have  come  to  believe 
that  increasing  efficiency  is  one  of  the  essential  factors  of 
increasing  income.  Whether  the  workmen  would  secure 
their  equitable  share  of  the  augmented  product  without  law 
and  collective  bargaining  is  a  question  which  must  be 
considered  by  itself;  but,  increase  of  product  is  the  abso- 
lutely necessary  and  universal  condition  of  increase  of 
wages;  and  improvement  in  education  not  only  tends  to 
make  workmen  more  alert,  inventive,  and  intelligent  in 
production,  but  also  raises  their  standard  of  life  and  makes 
them  more  resolute  and  persistent  in  their  demands  for 


140  BARROWS  LECTURES 

higher  wages  and  better  treatment.  Education  also  tends 
to  open  the  eyes  of  better-paid  workmen  to  higher  and 
saner  enjoyments  and  prevents  waste  of  income  on  sensual 
excess  and  alcohol. 

Types  of  technical  education  are:  private  philanthropy, 
business  enterprise,  municipal  continuation  schools,  techno- 
logical colleges,  agricultural  colleges  and  institutes,  and 
co-operation  between  schools,  trade-unions,  and  manu- 
facturers. ^ 

V.    Continuity  of  income :  preventive  measures. 

1.  The  principal  preventable  causes  of  the  loss  of  in- 
come are  (a)  sickness,  (b)  disability  from  accident,  (c)  in- 
voluntary unemployment. 

a)  Of  sickness,  and  methods  of  reducing  or  prevent- 
ing, I  have  spoken  under  the  head  of  "Health". 

b)  Disability  from  accident.^  An  international  socie- 
ty, with  branches  in  all  the  principal  countries,  is  active 
in  promoting  legislation  to  prevent  accidents  and  poisons 
in  the  various  trades. 

The  object  of  a  law  for  protecting  workmen  against 
industrial  accidents  and  diseases  is  plainly  their  own 
health,  comfort,  safety,  and  economic  well-being  and  the 
well-being  of  the  commonwealth.  In  order  that  the  work- 
men, foremen,  and  masters  may  assist  by  carefulness  in  the 
successful  administration  of  the  law,  they  are  urged  to 
observe  certain  precautions: 

"All  machinery,  when  in  operation,  is  dangerous,  and 
should  be  considered  so  by  the  operator.  It  should  be  so 
protected  as  to  offer  the  least  possible  chance  for  injury 
to  those  who  operate  it. 

*  25.  Ann.  Report  of  the  (U.  S.)  Arbeitsamt,   Arbeiterschutz,    publish- 

Commissioner  of  Labor,  1910.  ed  in  German,  French,  and  English; 

2  Bulletins  of    the  International  Prof.    S.    Bauer,    Secretary,    Basel, 

Association    for   Labor    Legislation,  Switzerland. 


IMPRO  VEMENTS  FOR  WAGE-EARNERS  1 4 1 

All  set  screws,  or  other  projections  on  revolving  machi- 
nery shall  be  countersunk,  or  otherwise  guarded,  when 
possible. 

Means  shall  be  provided  and  placed  within  convenient 
reach  for  promptly  stopping  the  machine,  group  of  ma- 
chines, shafting,  or  other  power-transmitting  machinery. 

Machines  must  not  be  placed  so  closely  together  as 
to  be  a  serious  menace  to  those  who  have  to  pass  between 
them.  Passage-ways  must  be  ample  in  width  and  head 
room,  and  must  be  kept  well  lighted  and  free  from  ob- 
structions. 

All  hatchways,  elevator  walls  or  other  openings  in 
the  floors  shall  be  properly  closed  or  guarded. 

All  premises  must  be  kept  in  a  clean  and  sanitary 
condition. 

Ample  and  separate  toilet  facilities  for  each  sex  shall 
be  provided,  and  toilet  rooms  must  be  kept  clean,  well 
ventilated  and  well  lighted. 

Food  must  not  be  taken  into  any  workroom  where 
white  lead,  arsenic,  or  other  poisonous  substances,  or  gases 
are  present  under  harmful  conditions. 

Proper  and  sufficient  means  of  escape,  in  case  of  fire, 
shall  be  provided  and  shall  be  kept  free  from  obstructions. 

Poisonous  and  noxious  fumes  or  gases,  and  dust  in- 
jurious to  health,  arising  from  any  process,  shall  be  remov- 
ed, as  far  as  practicable. 

No  employe  of  any  factory,  mercantile  establishment, 
mill  or  workshop  shall  operate  or  tamper  with  any  ma- 
chine or  appliance  with  which  such  employe  is  not  familiar 
and  which  is  in  no  way  connected  with  the  regular  and 
reasonable  necessary  duties  of  his  employment,  unless  it  be 
by  and  with  the  direct  or  reasonably  implied  command,  re- 
quest, or  direction  of  the  master  or  his  representative  or  agent. 

Reports  of  accidents  must  be  sent  promptly  to  the 
state  factory  inspector. 


142  BARROWS  LECTURES 

This  notice,  printed  in  various  languages,  must  be 
posted  in  a  conspicuous  place  in  every  office  and  w^ork- 
room  in  every  establishment  covered  by  the  provisions  of 
the  law."  (Summary  of  Illinois  Law  on  Health,  Safety,  and 
Comfort.) 

Thus  minutely  and  with  painstaking  care  does  the 
Legislature  provide  against  bodily  injury  and  discomfort 
caused  by  the  cruelty  and  negligence  of  the  employer  and 
even  from  the  ignorance  and  heedlessness  of  the  workmen 
themselves.  Life  and  bodily  integrity  are  too  precious  to 
be  daily  and  hourly  exposed  to  needless  and  preventable 
injury.  In  every  line  and  word  of  the  statute,  we  read  the 
national  respect  for  humanity.  Nothing  is  trifling  which  in 
the  least  affects  a  human  being. 

c)  Unemployment.  In  a  simple,  primitive  village  com- 
munity unemployment  of  individual  workmen  is  not  often 
felt  as  an  evil.  Each  member  of  the  society  shares  the 
good  or  evil  fortunes  of  all;  each  one  is  known  to  all  others 
and  has  numerous  ties  of  blood,  marriage,  or  acquaintance. 
The  whole  group  may  suffer  a  common  calamity  and  be 
without  the  means  of  life,  but  no  member  suffers  alone, 
for  all  help  the  weakest  brother  and  neighbor. 

Modern  industry,  among  many  effects,  has  produced  the 
isolated,  lonely,  deserted  wage-earner.  In  great  industrial 
centers  the  individual  is  lost;  domestic  ties  are  sundered; 
the  immigrant  cannot  make  himself  understood;  the  un- 
employed has  no  one  upon  whom  he  has  a  claim.  Each 
one  is  free  to  come  and  go,  to  travel,  to  improve  his  for- 
tunes in  a  new  place,  and,  if  he  fail,  to  starve  to  death  in 
sight  of  wealth,  luxury,  and  plenty.  In  the  manufacturing 
centers  the  isolated  individual  is  without  tools,  without  a 
shop,  without  materials;  if,  in  his  weary  wanderings  from 
place  to  place,  his  money  is  spent  and  he  does  not  find  a 
master  to  hire  him,  he  is  within  a  few  days  of  a  pauper's 
burial. 


IMPPOVEMENTS  FOR  WAGE-EARNERS  143 

That  the  unemployed  workman  does  not  often  actually 
come  to  this  extremity  in  the  busy  cities  of  the  West  is 
due  to  various  mitigating  circumstances.  One  may  beg  a 
shelter,  or  take  refuge  in  a  police  station  or  the  "casual 
ward"  of  an  almshouse,  or  in  a  cheap  lodging-house,  or  a 
municipal  hostelry,  or  a  religious  mission. 

The  consequence  of  resort  to  such  makeshifts  of  charity 
is  sometimes  worse  than  starvation  of  the  body;  it  is  physi- 
cal ruin  and  moral  degradation.  Life  itself  becomes  a 
curse  to  the  man  himself  and  a  menace  to  the  community. 
The  unemployed  tramp  becomes  the  unemployable. 

A  shrewd  social  worker  (James  Mullenbach),  himself 
trained  to  manual  labor  and  for  some  time  superintendent 
of  a  free  municipal  lodging-house,  has  said  of  these 
wanderers:  "The  conditions  under  which  these  men  work 

and  live  have  the  constant  tendency to  bring  them 

into  a  personal  condition  where  they  are  unemployable  .... 
Go  into  one  of  our  lodging-houses  and  sleep  there  for  even 
a  night  in  the  fetid  atmosphere  and  you  would  have  a 
craving  for  alcoholic  stimulant.  There  is  nothing  which 
brings  a  man's  stamina  down  so  much  as  irregularity  in 
employment." 

It  is  true  that  many  workmen  are  out  of  employment 
by  personal  fault,  —  laziness,  awkwardness,  inebriety,  en- 
feebling vice;  and  many  because  of  inherited  defect  or 
sickness.  Yet  even  here  the  general  social  causes  will 
help  us  to  account  for  the  unfitness  for  regular  industry. 

The  facts  of  unemployment  become  a  problem  for  the 
whole  community,  because  the  most  important  and  decisive 
causes  are  general  and  beyond  the  responsibility  of  parti- 
cular individuals,  and  also  because  the  isolated  individual 
is  helpless  when  he  endeavors  to  search  for  a  place  to 
earn  wages  on  his  own  account. 

Crises  and  depressions.  The  economists  have  stu- 
died  carefully  the   origin   of  those   periods  of  glut  and 


144  BARROWS  LECTURES 

stagnation  in  the  commercial  world  which  fill  the  rich  with 
anxiety,  which  bring  wage-earners  to  despair,  and  fill  the 
hearts  of  the  compassionate  with  pain.  No  one  seems  to 
be  able  to  give  a  wholly  satisfactory  explanation  of  these 
dark  days  of  commercial  eclipse;  but  all  are  agreed  that 
the  wage-earners  are  not  responsible  for  them,  although 
they  are  the  chief  sufferers,  and  they  are  utterly  unable  to 
control  the  situation,  singly  or  in  combination. 

The  influence  of  the  seasons  on  unemployment  is  a 
serious  general  cause,  especially  when,  as  in  Europe  and 
America,  the  difference  between  summer  and  winter  is  so 
great,  and  the  severe  cold  of  northern  latitudes  with  their 
months  of  freezing  chill  requires  a  suspension  of  agriculture, 
building  operations,  and  many  other  outside  occupations. 

There  is  also  a  seasonal  demand  for  commodities, 
heavy  woollen  goods  for  winter,  and  cotton  for  summer; 
and  this  calls  for  excessively  long  and  intense  hours  of 
labor  at  certain  times,  while  at  other  periods  the  industry 
is  suspended  and  labor  is  discharged  and  left  without 
income. 

The  rapid  introduction  of  improved  machinery  and 
labor-saving  devices,  with  better  organization  of  shops, 
is,  in  the  long  run,  a  blessing  to  the  nation  in  the  multipli- 
cation and  cheapening  of  commodities  for  the  comfort  and 
enjoyment  of  mankind ;  but  during  the  time  of  transition 
many  are  thrown  out  of  employment,  and  some  are  too  old 
to  accustom  themselves  to  the  new  machines  and  new  ways. 
These  considerations  will  show  that  society  must  co-operate 
with  the  working-men  to  mitigate  this  crying  evil  of  unem- 
ployment.   How? 

First  of  all  by  providing  free  labor  exchanges,  centers 
of  information,  which  will  facilitate  the  movement  of  idle 
men  from  places  where  they  are  not  wanted,  to  other  places 
where  there  is  a  demand  for  their  strength  of  willing  arms 
and  their  skill. 


IMPROVEMENTS  FOR  WAGE-EARNERS  145 

Secondly,  the  community  can,  by  proper  foresight  and 
planning,  so  arrange  the  demands  of  great  corporations, 
cities,  states,  and  nations  as  to  give  in  larger  degree  steady 
regular  employment. 

Thirdly,  the  public  authorities  can  provide  for  the 
industrial  training  of  men  rejected,  because  they  are  un- 
skilful, so  that  they  may  be  sought  after  by  manu- 
facturers. 

Fourthly,  boys  and  girls  may  be  so  taught,  trained, 
and  disciplined  in  suitable  schools  and  apprenticeships, 
so  guided  and  supervised  M^hile  they  are  forming  their 
habits  for  life,  that  very  few  will  grow  up  heedless,  idle, 
vagabond,  and  useless. 

VI.  Social  Insurance.  After  all  known  methods  of 
prevention  have  been  effectively  organized  in  law  and  ad- 
ministration, the  people  whose  income  depends  on  wages, 
will  still  be  exposed  to  danger  of  want  by  sickness,  acci- 
dent, invalidism,  and  old  age,  involuntary  unemployment 
and  death  of  the  breadwinner. 

To  render  the  life  of  wage-earners  more  secure, 
dignified,  contented,  and  happy,  the  income  must  cover 
not  only  the  daily  wants,  but  also  all  those  emergencies  of 
existence. 

There  are  only  three  methods  of  meeting  this  want: 
charity,  savings,  and  social  insurance. 

Charity  must  ever  be  the  last  resort,  because  it  is  de- 
grading to  character.  It  is  exceptional  and  a  mere  make- 
shift. 

Individual  savings  have  been  highly  recommended, 
chiefly  by  people  who  have  inherited  wealth  or  opportunity. 
Experience  in  all  countries  proves  that  they  are  uncertain 
and  unreliable.  1    Individual  savings  as  a  method  of  pro- 

'  I  have  offered  evidence  of  this  in   my  Industrial  Insurance  in  the 
United  States. 

10 


146  BARROWS  LECTURES 

viding  for  the  emergencies  of  life  of  wage-earners  are  not 
reliable,  because: 

1.  In  a  large  number  of  instances  saving  means  to 
reduce  tlie  expenditures  for  food,  clotliing,  house-room,  and 
education  of  children  to  a  point  where  physical  strength 
and  industrial  efficiency  are  impaired  and  future  earning 
power  permanently  lowered. 

2.  In  relation  to  old  age  a  large  proportion  of  work- 
ing people  will  not  live  to  old  age;  and  extreme  sacrifice 
for  an  event  which  seems  so  remote  and  improbable,  can- 
not be  made  to  appear  rational. 

3.  In  the  case  of  accident  arising  out  of  the  occupa- 
tion, the  cost  of  compensation  is  now  universally  admitted 
to  be  a  fair  charge  on  the  business,  a  part  of  the  cost  of 
production,  to  be  distributed  among  the  consumers,  though 
at  first  advanced  by  the  employer.  To  ask  wage-earners 
to  bear  this  cost  out  of  savings  is  unjust. 

4.  In  large  measure,  the  same  is  true  of  sickness  and 
invalidism;  they  are  in  some  degree  due  to  general  causes 
beyond  the  individual  will;  and,  therefore,  society  should 
divide  part  of  the  cost  of  loss. 

5.  It  requires  many  years  to  amass  enough  by  savings 
to  provide  for  the  emergencies  of  invalidism,  old  age,  and 
death  of  breadwinner;  while  in  a  sound  insurance  fund  the 
workman  is  assured  of  a  definite  and  adequate  indemnity 
from  the  very  beginning,  from  the  time  he  enters  the  fund. 

6.  Social  insurance  teaches  people  to  co-operate  as 
brothers;  individual  savings  train  them  rather  to  be 
egoistic,  selfish,  unsocial,  —  qualities  which  do  not  require 
cultivation,  but  have  only  too  much  native  strength. 

The  philosophy  of  social  insurance  has  been  stated 
by  Dr.  Albert  von  Schaffle,^  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
German  system: 

M«5  meinem  Leben  (1905),  cited  in  W.  H.  Dawson,  Social  Insurance 
in  Germany  (1912),  preface. 


IMPROVEMENTS  FOR  WAGE-EARNERS  147 

"The  supreme  aim  of  statesmanship  is  not  the  wealth 
and  efficiency  of  the  few,  but  the  greatest  physical,  materi- 
al, and  moral  force  of  the  entire  community,  by  which  a 
nation  maintains  its  position  in  the  struggle  for  existence. 
From  this  standpoint  everything  that  makes  the  masses  of 
the  population  secure  against  need,  and  therefore  on  the 
lowest  plane  contented,  that  strengthens  a  people  by  its 
own  co-operative  effort,  that  creates  social  peace  and  pre- 
vents violent  agitation,  that  transforms  the  spirit  of  mendi- 
cancy into  a  consciousness  of  State-directed,  collective  self- 
help,  and  that  raises  the  entire  moral  and  political  level  of 
the  lower  classes,  is  of  incalculable  worth.  And  all  this 
is  done  by  the  system  of  obligatory  self-insurance  against 
want  and  distress." 

Co-operation.  In  England  a  small  group  of  poor 
weavers  in  Rochdale  organized  and  learned  to  administer  a 
business  of  common  purchases  and  even  of  manufacture, 
which  has  been  imitated  on  the  continent  and  proved  a 
benefit,  economic  and  moral,  to  millions  of  working  people. 
Not  only  did  they  secure  unadulterated  goods  with  a  share 
in  the  profits,  but  they  learned  to  subdue  selfishness  for  a 
common  cause;  a  spiritual  blessing  grew  out  of  a  material 
advantage. 

In  Germany,  a  magistrate  found  the  small  farmers 
oppressed  by  debts  and  ground  by  usurers,  suspicious  of 
each  other,  reckless  and  sunken  in  despondency.  As  a 
Christian  man  who  felt  his  obligations  to  his  less  fortunate 
neighbors,  he  induced  them  to  combine  in  credit  associa- 
tions. By  co-operation  they  were  able  to  capitalize  their 
industry,  frugality,  and  honesty  so  as  to  secure  resources 
for  seed,  implements,  cattle,  and  fertilizers  without  becom- 
ing the  slaves  of  money-lenders.  Raiffeisen  thus  invented 
and  administered  a  social  method  which  not  only  improved 
material  conditions,  but  also  the  character  of  the  members. 
Senator  Luzzatti  improved  and  adapted  these  people's  banks 

10* 


148  BARIiOWS  LECTURES 

to  the  needs  of  Italian  peasants,  and  thus  they  have  started 
a  career  of  conquest  around  the  world. 

They  have  been  introduced  also  into  India  and  there 
produced  the  same  beneficent  effects,  both  external  and 
moral, — another  proof  of  the  kinship  of  spirit  in  all  lands 
under  the  most  diverse  conditions.  As  a  competent  eco- 
nomist, familiar  with  India,  has  well  said:  "At  the  heart  of 
every  economic  problem  lies  a  moral  problem,  and  the 
surest  cure  of  economic  evils  is  one  which  gives  the  peo- 
ple the  means  of  overcoming  their  troubles  themselves. 
The  experience  of  Europe  seems  to  show  that  co-operative 
banks  are  such  a  means,  and  there  is,  therefore,  no  nobler 
or  more  genuinely  patriotic  work  to  be  done  in  India  than 
to  teach  the  people  to  organize  village  associations  upon 
the  principle  of  mutual  credit."  (Morison,  Industrial  Orga- 
nizat'^^n,  p.  168.) 

RefeRcnces— M.  Fassbender,  F.  W.  Raiffeisen  in  seinem  Leben, 
Denken  und  Wirken,  Berlin,  1902. 

F.  A.  Nicholson,  Report  on  Land  and  Agricultural  Banks. 

Theodore  Morison,  The  Industrial  Organization  of  an 
Indian  Province,  1911  (so  complete  that  a  full  discussion 
in  my  lecture  is  needless,  even  if  tliere  were  room). 

H.  W.  Wolff,  People's  Banks. 

E.  A.  Pratt,  The  Organization  of  Agriculture. 

THE  HEROIC  VIRTUES  OF  THE  NEW  PHILANTHROPY 

History,  literature,  and  monumental  art  have  hitherto 
glorified  that  courage  which  found  expression  in  war,  blood- 
shed, and  conquest  of  the  weak  by  the  strong.  There  is 
good  reason  to  hope  that  war  will  some  day  cease.  Where 
will  then  be  the  opportunity  for  those  virile  qualities 
which  we  all  admire,  even  when  they  are  associated  with 
selfishness,  cruelty,  and  oppression? 

This  is  a  problem  which  Richard  Watson  Gilder,  with 
the  prophetic  insight  of  a  true  poet,  has  so  beautifully  touched 
with  his  genius  of  kindness. 


IMPROVEMENTS  FOR  WAGE-EARNERS  149 

'Twas  said,  'When  roll  of  drum  and  battle's  roar 

Shall  cease  upon  the  earth,  O,  then  no  more 

The  deed,  the  race,  the  heroes  in  the  land.' 

But  scarce  that  word  was  breathed,  when  one  small  hand 

Lifted  victorious  o'er  a  giant  wrong 

That  had  its  victims  crushed  through  ages  long; 

Some  woman  set  her  pale  and  quivering  face, 

Firm  as  a  rock,  against  a  man's  disgrace ; 

A  little  child  suffered  in  silence,  lest 

His  savage  pain  should  wound  a  mother's  breast; 

Some  quiet  scholar  flung  his  gauntlet  down 

And  risked,  in  Truth's  great  name,  the  synod's  frown; 

A  civic  hero,  in  the  calm  realm  of  laws, 

Did  that  which  suddenly  drew  a  world's  applause; 

And  one  to  the  pest  his  lithe  young  body  gave 

That  he  a  thousand  thousand  lives  might  save. 

The  Indian  spirit  of  gentleness,  grace,  and  sacrifice 
will  understand  this  heroic  grace  of  woman,  of  scholar, 
of  teacher,  of  physician,  and  yet  give  to  the  world  warriors 
of  this  type,  victories  of  the  highest  order. 

Along  their  front  no  sabres  shine, 
No  blood-red  pennons  wave. 
Their  banner  bears  the  single  line: 
"  Our  duty  is  to  save." 

VII.  The  ethical  and  spiritual  significance  of  these 
policies  of  national  solidarity,  and  even  international  move- 
ment. 

It  may  be  said  that  they  are  merely  "selfish"  efforts 
of  nations  to  keep  down  discontent,  to  avoid  mutiny,  to 
make  property  and  government  safe.  Even  so,  they  are 
at  least  prudent  and  wise;  and,  since  all  the  precious 
interests  of  millions  of  people  are  at  stake,  they  are  part 
of  the  national  duty. 

But  it  is  only  fair  to  admit  that  other  motives  enter 
into  this  agitation  and  struggle  to  improve  the  lot  of  wage- 
earners  who  constitute  so  vast  a  part  of  our  populations. 


1 50  BARRO  WS  LECTURES 

Duty  and  religion,  philanthropy  and  solidarity  of 
brotherhood  are  forces,  no  doubt  somewhat  tainted  by  less 
sublime  and  idealistic  feelings. 

The  Churches  of  all  denominations  have  come  to  see 
they  have  a  duty  to  direct  the  powerful  motives  of  religion 
in  this  direction.  The  Popes  of  Rome,  their  bishops,  the 
Evangelical  Social  Congress  of  the  State  Church  in  Germany, 
and  various  ecclesiastical  bodies  of  Great  Britain  and 
America  have  instituted  studies  and  urged  reforms  de- 
manded by  modern  conditions. 

The  Emperor  William  I,  in  his  famous  message  to 
the  Reichstag,  November  17,  1881,  introducing  the  new 
social  insurance  laws,  disclosed  the  lofty  motives  of  the 
nation: 

"We  consider  it  Our  Imperial  duty  to  impress  upon 
the  Reichstag  the  necessity  of  furthering  the  welfare  of 
the  working  people  . . ,  We  should  review  with  increased 
satisfaction  the  manifold  successes  with  which  The  Lord 
has  blessed  Our  reign,  could  We  carry  with  Us  to  the 
grave  the  consciousness  of  leaving  Our  country  an  ad- 
ditional and  lasting  assurance  of  internal  peace,  and  the 
conviction  that  We  have  rendered  the  needy  that  assistance 
to  which  they  are  justly  entitled.  Our  efforts  in  that 
direction  are  certain  of  the  approval  of  all  the  Federate 
Governments,  and  we  confidently  rely  on  the  support  of 
the  Reichstag,  without  distinction  of  parties.  In  order 
to  realize  these  views,  a  Bill  for  the  Insurance  of  Workmen 
against  Industrial  Accidents  will  first  of  all  be  submitted, 
providing  for  a  general  organization  of  industrial  Sick 
Relief  Insurance.  Likewise,  those  who  are  disabled  in 
consequence  of  Old  Age  or  Invalidity  possess  a  well-founded 
claim  to  more  ample  relief  on  the  part  of  the  State  than 
they  have  hitherto  enjoyed.  To  devise  the  fittest  ways  and 
means  for  making  such  provision,  however  difficult,  is  one 
of  the  highest  obligations  of  every  community,  based  on 


IMPROVEMENTS  FOR  WAGE-EARNERS  151 


the  moral  principles  of  Christianity. "  (Cited  in  L.  K.  Frankel 
and  M.  M.  Dawson,  Working-men's  Insurance  in  Europe, 
p.  94.) 

VIII.  Women  as  beneficiaries  and  agents  of  the  forward 
movement. 

The  modern  movement  in  Christian  countries  could 
never  have  attained  its  present  proportions,  unless  it  had 
invited  to  its  blessings  and  called  to  its  aid  the  sisters, 
wives,  and  mothers  of  the  Western  World.  It  is  an  es- 
sential principle  of  Christianity  that  men  and  women  are 
equal  before  God;  of  the  same  divine  origin,  sharers  in 
the  same  redemption,  obliged  on  every  ground  of  reason 
to  co-operate  in  fulfilling  the  divine  will.  Unquestionably, 
the  Church  leaders  have  not  always  held  this  belief  con- 
sistently, and  their  occasional  contempt  for  women  has 
wrought  disaster.  But  for  centuries,  the  tendency  has  been 
to  bring  women  into  full  enjoyment  of  all  that  is  essential 
to  human  dignity.  By  a  thousand  routes,  led  by  varied 
influences,  we  have  come  to  measure  civilization  by  its 
treatment  of  women.  The  cause  is  won;  before  the  law, 
in  the  field  of  education  and  social  influence,  in  the  Church 
and  everywhere  the  spiritual  worth  of  wife  and  mother 
has  come  to  recognition.  Not  that  the  principle  is  applied 
as  logically  and  thoroughly  as  it  deserves,  but  the  principle 
is  admitted  and  its  application  to  its  full  limit  is  only  a 
question  of  time.  We  have  made  up  our  minds  that  no 
nation  can  claim  and  hold  a  place  in  the  front  rank  of 
progress  which  keeps  in  silence,  darkness,  and  subjugation 
one-half  its  people.  It  is  becoming  more  and  more  difficult 
for  men  to  tolerate  the  constant  and  intimate  companionship 
of  those  who  cannot  have  fellowship  with  them  in  art, 
science,  politics,  and  religious  thought.  In  many  and 
extensive  regions,  women  of  a  certain  degree  of  leisure 
give  far  more  attention  to  the  humanities  than  do  men; 


152 


BARROV/S  LECTURES 


and  the  result  is  a  social  intercourse  which  is  full  of 
vivacity,  charm,  variety,  and  purity.  The  Victorian  Age 
shows  in  its  literature  the  new  refining  influence.  Phil- 
anthropy, especially  in  the  protection  and  education  of 
children  and  the  feeble,  has  added  to  its  constellations  the 
brilliant  names  of  Elizabeth  Fry,  Josephine  Shaw  Lowell, 
and  hundreds  of  others.  The  army  of  school  teachers  has 
been  recruited  from  this  new  source,  and  the  agents  of 
culture  have  thus  become  vastly  more  numerous.  Gcethe, 
in  the  climax  of  his  drama  of  Faust,  has  voiced  a  universal 
conviction  of  modern  life:  "The  Woman-soul  leadeth  us, 
upward  and  on". 

CULTURE  INTERESTS  OF  THE  WORKING  PEOPLE 

We  have  thus  far  dealt  with  the  physical  and  economic 
interests  of  the  wage-earners.  But  all  this  is  a  "preliminary 
item",  a  necessary  means  to  the  supreme  ends  of  human 
life.  Our  ideal  for  all  the  operatives  and  their  families 
includes  a  participation  in  the  highest  elements  of  civiliza- 
tion. We  do  not  regard  the  grimy  laborers  in  factory, 
mine,  field,  and  mill  as  mere  candidates  for  sleek,  fat,  and 
prosperous  animality.  Christianity  declares  that  they  are 
all  spirits,  images  of  the  Divine;  that  they  may  not  be 
regarded  as  mere  means  to  social  prosperity.  Every  man 
counts  for  one,  and  each  has  an  inherent  moral  right  to 
the  best  things  the  universe  has  to  offer. 

This  belief  is  taking  concrete  form  in  specific  insti- 
tutions, laws,  movements;  it  is  shaping  the  treatment  of 
workmen  by  their  employers;  it  appears  in  the  budgets 
of  cities,  commonwealths,  and  nations.  The  social  and 
university  settlement  movement,  led  by  such  illustrious 
spirits  as  Arnold  Toynbee,  established  in  many  cities 
common  centers  of  discussion,  where  workmen  and  scholars 
meet  on  common  terms  and  learn  from  each  other  what  is 
best  for  the  whole  community.     Artists  interpret  to  them 


IMPROVEMENTS  FOR  WAGE-EARNERS  153 

beauty;  men  of  science  reveal  the  wonders  of  the  labora- 
tory; and  all  agree  to  co-operate  to  secure  better  govern- 
ment, schools,  and  manners. 

The  public  schools  have  long  endeavored  to  place 
the  key  of  elementary  knowledge  in  the  hands  of  all  the 
children,  by  means  of  which  they  can  unlock  the  treasures 
of  intellectual  wealth  found  in  the  free,  circulating  libraries 
of  the  towns.  Of  late,  the  public  schools  have  greatly 
extended  their  activities  and  they  are  becoming  centers  of 
fellowship  in  the  enjoyment  of  art,  literature,  science,  and 
political  education.  Illustrated  lectures  with  photographs 
and  even  moving  pictures  enable  men  to  travel  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth  and  thus  escape  from  the  narrow  mono- 
tonous round  of  their  routine  employments,  and  range  at 
large  in  the  free  fields  of  the  imagination  and  reason. 

William  Ellery  Channing,  representative  of  the  best 
spiritual  life  of  New  England,  uttered  memorable  words, 
when  he  addressed  a  group  of  apprentices  in  Boston  and 
encouraged  them  to  cultivate  their  noblest  faculties  along 
with  their  daily  labor,  and  his  lectures  to  working-men, 
like  those  of  F.  W.  Robertson  in  England,  and  of  many  a 
Catholic  priest  like  Ketteler  in  Europe,  touched  the  noblest 
chords  in  the  human  soul  and  lifted  the  labor  question 
far  above  any  mere  problem  of  animal  comfort  and  eco- 
nomic advantage. 

In  the  literary  form  of  allegory  one  of  our  prophetic 
spirits  has  compelled  us  to  look  forward  to  the  improve- 
ments yet  to  be  made,  before  we  have  done  our  full  duty 
to  men  of  toil. 

The  success  and  failure  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  ^ 

When  the  Nineteenth  Century  died,  its  Spirit  de- 
scended to  the  vaulted  chamber  of  the  Past,  where  the 

'  W.  Rauschenbusch,  Christianity  and  ilie  Social  Crisis,     pp.  211-13. 


154  BARROWS  LECTURES 

Sp'rits  of  the  dead  Centuries  sit  on  granite  thrones  together. 
When  the  new-comer  entered,  all  turned  toward  him  and 
the  Spirit  of  the  Eighteenth  Century  spoke:  "Tell  thy  tale, 
brother.  Give  us  the  word  of  the  human  kind  we  left  to  thee. " 

"I  am  the  Spirit  of  the  Wonderful  Century.  I  gave 
man  the  mastery  over  nature.  Discoveries  and  inventions, 
which  lighted  the  black  space  of  the  past  like  lonely  stars, 
have  clustered  in  a  Milky-way  of  radiance  under  my  rule. 
One  man  does  by  the  touch  of  his  hand,  what  the  toil  of  a 
thousand  slaves  never  did. 

"Knowledge  has  unlocked  the  mines  of  wealth,  and 
the  hoarded  wealth  of  to-day  creates  the  vaster  wealth  of 
to-morrow.  Man  has  escaped  the  slavery  of  Necessity 
and  is  free. 

"I  freed  the  thoughts  of  men.  They  face  the  facts  and 
know.  Their  knowledge  is  common  to  all.  The  deeds 
of  the  East  at  eve  are  known  in  the  West  at  morn.  They 
send  their  whispers  under  the  seas  and  across  the  clouds. 

"I  broke  the  chains  of  bigotry  and  despotism.  I  made 
men  free  and  equal.  Every  man  feels  the  worth  of  his 
manhood. 

"I  have  touched  the  summit  of  history.  I  did  for 
mankind  what  none  of  you  did  before.  They  are  rich. 
They  are  wise.    They  are  free." 

The  Spirits  of  the  dead  Centuries  sat  silent,  with 
troubled  eyes.  At  last,  the  Spirit  of  the  First  Century 
spoke  for  all. 

"We  all  spoke  proudly,  when  we  came  here  in  the 
flush  of  our  deeds,  and  thou  more  proudly  than  we  all. 
But  as  we  sit  and  think  of  what  was  before  us,  and  what 
has  come  after  us,  shame  and  guilt  bear  down  our  pride. 
Your  words  sound  as  if  the  redemption  of  man  had  come 
at  last.    Has  it  come? 

"You  have  made  men  rich.  Tell  us,  is  none  in  pain 
with  hunger  to-day  and  none  in  fear  of  hunger  to-morrow? 


IMPROVEMENTS  FOR  WAGE-EARNERS  155 

Do  all  children  grow  up  fair  of  limb  and  trained  for 
thought  and  action?  Do  none  die  before  their  time?  Has 
the  mastery  of  nature  made  men  free  to  enjoy  their  lives 
and  loves,  and  to  live  the  higher  life  of  the  mind? 

"You  have  made  men  wise.  Are  they  wise  or  cunning? 
Have  they  learned  to  restrain  their  bodily  passions?  Have 
they  learned  to  deal  with  their  fellows  in  justice  and  love? 

"You  have  set  them  free.  Are  there  none,  then,  who 
toil  for  others  against  their  will?  Are  all  men  free  to  do 
the  work  they  love  best? 

"You  have  made  men  one.  Are  there  no  barriers  of 
class  to  keep  man  and  maid  apart?  Does  none  rejoice  in 
the  cause  that  makes  the  many  moan?  Do  men  no  longer 
spill  the  blood  of  men  for  their  ambition  and  the  sweat 
of  men  for  their  greed?" 

As  the  Spirit  of  the  Nineteenth  listened,  his  head  sank 
to  his  breast. 

"Your  shame  is  already  upon  me.  My  great  cities 
are  as  yours  were.  My  millions  live  from  hand  to  mouth. 
Those  who  toil  longest  have  least.  My  thousands  sink 
exhausted  before  their  days  are  half  spent.  My  human 
wreckage  multiplies.  Class  faces  class  in  sullen  distrust. 
Their  freedom  and  knowledge  has  only  made  men  keener 
to  suffer.  Give  me  a  seat  among  you,  and  let  me  think 
why  it  has  been  so." 

The  others  turned  to  the  Spirit  of  the  First  Century. 
"Your  promised  redemption  has  been  long  in  coming." 

"But  it  will  come",  he  replied. 


LECTURE  SIX 

PROVIDING  FOR  PROGRESS 

"Social  progress"  is  a  phrase  made  familiar  by  repeti- 
tion, and  even  by  vociferation.  It  may  be  well  to  attach 
to  the  sonorous  and  seductive  epithet  some  definite  meaning. 
Provisionally  we  may  define  social  progress  as:  1.  im- 
provement of  the  physical  and  spiritual  capacity  and  energy 
of  a  people;  2.  improvement  of  the  material  conditions  of 
existence  of  all  the  people;  3.  enrichment  of  the  knowledge, 
art,  and  character  of  the  people  through  discovery,  in- 
vention, education,  and  diffusion  of  the  embodiments  and 
expressions  of  our  spiritual  possessions.  This  definition 
is  intended  to  include  all  that  is  true  in  both  the  aristo- 
cratic and  democratic  ideals,  which  have  sometimes  been 
set  in  violent  contrast,  and  to  reconcile  in  a  loftier  unity 
of  conception  all  that  is  valuable  in  the  notion  of  the  Super- 
man of  Nietzsche,  the  Hero  of  Carlyle,  and  the  altruism 
of  Howard  and  Shaftesbury. 

I.  There  are  material  conditions  of  national  or  racial 
progress.  The  best  seed  will  refuse  to  produce  plants  in 
a  soil  of  dry  hot  sand.  The  wise  gardener  will  prepare 
food,  moisture,  and  warmth  for  the  tender  shoots  from 
which  hg  hopes  for  fruit-bearing  orchards. 

Human  beings  require  air,  but  they  cannot  live  on  air; 
they  cannot  live  by  bread  alone,  though  bread  they  must 
have. 

1.  The  first  material  condition  of  progress  is  general 
command  of  surplus  wealth;  of  income  beyond  what  is 
absolutely  necessary  to  keep  life  in  the  body.  In  communi- 
ties where  the  entire  time  and  energy  of  the  inhabitants 


PROVIDING  FOR  PROGRESS  157 

must  be  devoted  to  wresting  from  niggardly  nature  the  bare 
means  of  existence,  much  advance  in  science,  art,  and 
idealism  cannot  be  expected.  Extreme  poverty  and  con- 
tinual misery  discourage  and  thwart  budding  aspiration 
and  ambition,  and  hold  human  beings  down  to  the  level  of 
animality. 

The  surplus  wealth  may  be  in  the  form  of  personal 
and  family  possessions  and  income,  or  in  the  form  of 
common  property,  as  public  schools,  parks,  museums,  uni- 
versities, libraries  which  are  freely  and  easily  accessible 
to  all  citizens. 

But  even  where  public  property  is  extensive,  the  citizens 
must  have  a  secure  and  adequate  individual  income  in 
order  to  avail  themselves  of  the  use  and  enjoyment  of  the 
offered  opportunities.  The  jaded  and  hungry  mill  hand 
passes  with  longing  and  disappointment,  perhaps  with 
bitter  envy,  the  college  which  he  is  too  poor  to  attend. 

Not  seldom  the  statistics  of  national  wealth  are  so 
arranged  as  to  obscure  the  inequality  of  the  distribution 
of  property  and  income.  To  a  father  struggling  to  support 
a  large  family  on  a  wage  of  $  400  a  year,  it  is  cold  comfort 
to  be  informed  by  the  infallible  statistician  that  the  country 
has  so  many  billion  dollars  or  pounds  or  lakhs  of  taxable 
wealth,  and  the  people  an  average  of  $  1000  to  each  person. 
It  is  only  when  we  divide  the  entire  population  into  groups, 
graded  according  to  the  amount  of  income,  that  we  discover 
the  deception  practised  upon  us  by  the  display  of  the  sum 
total  of  national  wealth.  How  the  huge  national  granary 
dissolves  into  mist  when  distribution  mocks  the  parents 
whose  children  cry  of  gnawing  hunger  after  the  last  crumb 
of  bread  is  devoured  and  nothing  remains.  In  such  a  case, 
it  is  not  the  nation  which  is  rich,  but  only  a  few  million- 
aires and  relatively  few  capitalists  who  control  the  instru- 
ments of  production.  The  people  is  rich  only  when  the 
product  of  toil  is  suitably  divided  so  that  all  who  labor 


1 58  BARRO  WS  LECTURES 

can  have  enough  for  the  support  of  a  decent  and  vigorous 
human  existence. 

2.  The  second  material  condition  of  social  progress 
is  leisure.  The  history  of  advancing  culture  demonstrates 
the  value  of  leisure, —  by  which  I  mean  freedom  from  the 
absolute  necessity  of  exhausting  vitality  in  the  effort  to  earn 
or  win  the  material  means  of  existence.  While  life  is 
spent  in  securing  the  means  of  living,  it  remains  on  the 
old  level. 

In  the  ancient  civilizations, — Assyrian,  Egyptian,  Greek, 
Roman,  —  leisure  was  gained  for  a  small  class  by  means 
of  slavery  or  serfdom,  in  all  their  grades  and  forms.  Slaves 
were  members  of  a  conquered  race  or  persons  purchased 
for  the  convenience  of  the  masters.  It  was  thus  that  the 
citizens  of  ancient  Athens  gained  time,  care  free,  to  discuss 
politics,  philosophy,  art,  and  to  develop  sculpture,  archi- 
tecture, poetry,  and  eloquence.  That  splendid  culture 
rested  on  the  bent  backs  of  slaves, — caryatides  whose 
weary  shoulders  carried  the  weight  of  beautiful  temples. 
This  is  the  historical  justification  of  slavery;  that  it  dis- 
ciplined savage  man  to  steady  industry'  and  that  it  at 
least  gave  a  starting-point  for  art,  science,  and  philosophy 
in  the  leisure  class.  Occasionally,  a  slave  of  good  stock 
in  the  mansion  of  a  rich  master,  became  a  man  of  learning 
or  of  artistic  power  to  create. 

But  v/hile  slavery  was  historically  justified,  it  is  no 
longer  morally  possible;  it  is  not  economical  and  it  now 
offends  our  ethical  beliefs,  and  cannot  be  tolerated  among 
the  civilized.  In  our  day,  in  the  Occident,  the  leisure  class 
obtains  its  release  from  the  constant  struggle  for  bare 
existence  by  means  of  the  wage-earning  class,  the  so-called 
proletariate  of  great  industrial  cities.  Many  of  these  are 
worse  off  than  slaves  or  serfs;  their  food  and  habitations 

'  K.  BOCHER,  Arbeit  and  Rhythmus. 


PROVIDING  FOR  PROGRESS  159 

are  inferior  and  their  income  is  insecure.  While  the  wage 
system  is  a  vast  advance  on  slavery,  it  is  not  wholly  satis- 
factory, and  must  some  day  be  greatly  modified  or  abolished 
altogether. 

The  modern  "social  question"  of  "democracy"  is,  at 
bottom,  this:  how  to  extend  the  advantages  of  leisure 
from  one  class  to  all  classes,  without  at  the  same  time 
losing  the  advantages  which  arise  from  having  a  consider- 
able number  free  from  the  coarser  and  ruder  forms  of  labor. 

The  danger  and  evil  of  having  a  favored  leisure  class 
are  obvious.  The  privilege  is  abused;  the  true  social 
function  of  leisure  is  not  discovered  or  at  least  admitted; 
and  leisure  becomes  the  occasion  of  vanity,  corrupting 
idleness,  intrigue  to  relieve  monotony,  sensuality,  diseases, 
decay,  extinction  of  family  by  refusal  to  have  children  or 
by  nervous  exhaustion  and  incapacity.  Revolt  against 
these  abuses  is  a  hopeful  sign  of  moral  soundness.  The 
inane,  unscrupulous,  and  sensual  indulgence  of  fashionable 
watering-places  are  held  up  to  unceasing  ridicule  by  cari- 
caturists and  dramatists.  Physicians  protest  and  advise 
rational  pursuits  as  cure  for  "nerves".  Of  course,  the 
preachers  also  protest;  but  that  is  regarded  as  their  trade, 
professional  talk,  and  it  is  discounted  by  those  who  most 
need  it.  Unfortunately,  the  Church  assemblies  themselves 
only  too  often  are  used  by  the  superficial  votaries  of  fashion 
as  a  theatre  for  the  display  of  their  unearned  wealth,  whose 
responsibilities  never  have  occurred  to  them. 

The  protest  of  democracy — and  it  grows  out  of  the 
Christian  view  of  the  world  and  of  life — is  heard.  The 
literature  of  the  labor  question  and  social  legislation  now 
show  unmistakable  signs  of  this  protest, — which  takes  a 
negative  and  positive  form. 

The  negative  protest  is  directed  to  the  destruction  of 
abuses:  to  invectives  against  ostentation,  excessive  luxury, 
splendid  furniture,  costly  banquets,  lavish  expenditures  on 


160  BARROWS  LECTURES 

flowers  and  fireworks  without  corresponding  satisfactions 
of  any  kind  to  any  person. 

The  positive  protest  is  in  the  nature  of  a  demand  for 
the  extension  of  rational  leisure  to  all  workers  and  pro- 
ducers. In  our  analysis  of  recent  social  legislation  in  the 
Occident  this  aspect  was  apparent  in  laws  restricting  the 
hours  of  labor  by  the  day  or  week;  prohibiting  Sunday 
labor,  so  far  as  possible;  protecting  certain  festival  days, 
and  giving  time  to  workers  for  duties  as  electors. 

The  leaders  of  trade-unions  and  their  friends  are 
entirely  conscious  of  the  meaning  of  this  legislation.  They 
openly  and  distinctly  proclaim  their  conviction  that  a  people 
is  not  a  people  of  true  culture  and  civilization  which 
limits  the  chance  of  rational  enjoyments  to  a  small  class. 
They  know  and  clearly  teach  that  a  surplus  of  physical 
vitality  and  periods  of  leisure  are  essential  conditions  of 
general  participation  in  the  best  things  of  life, — books, 
music,  recreations,  play,  drama,  prayer.  They  claim  that 
all  these  are  essentials  of  a  real  human  life  and  that, 
therefore,  all  should  have  a  chance  to  share  in  them.  It 
will  not  answer  to  have  one  class  going  to  decay  from 
idleness  and  another  and  larger  breaking  down  under 
excessive  and  unfair  burdens.  The  wit  of  the  world  must 
consecrate  itself  to  the  solution  of  this  problem. 

3.  Surplus  vitality.  There  are  material  conditions  of 
national  and  racial  progress,  surplus  vitality,  force.  So 
long  as  a  people  is  feeble,  half-starved,  possessed  of  only 
so  much  vitality  as  is  necessary  to  keep  alive  long  enough 
to  propagate  another  feeble  and  exhausted  generation,  it 
cannot  advance.  There  must  be  a  surplus  of  vitality,  beyond 
the  absolute  need  of  vegetation  and  reproduction.  There 
are  exceptional  cases  of  feeble  individuals,  usually  if  not 
always  descendants  of  strong  ancestors,  who  have  kept  at 
least  a  flickering  light  of  science  or  art  or  religion  burning. 
Usually,  such  persons  die  early  and  leave  only  fragments 


PROVIDING  FOR  PROGRESS  161 

of  fine  work,  hints  of  what  they  might  do,  if  they  had 
inherited  sound  constitutions. 

Asceticism  has  developed  occasionally  very  refined 
and  beautiful  characters,  —  mystics,  poets,  saints.  But  most 
of  them  died  without  heirs,  and  the  vast  majority  lived 
dwarfed,  crippled  lives,  and  robbed  the  world  of  their  best 
possible  service.  Not  seldom,  human  nature  has  reacted 
against  this  starvation  policy  and  plunged  the  votary  into 
sensualism.  In  other  instances,  the  injured  body  has 
avenged  the  violation  of  the  laws  of  nutrition  by  giving 
the  soul  for  its  instrument  a  diseased  brain,  source  of 
delusions,  insanity,  sensuality,  idiocy,  extravagance.  The 
history  of  asceticism  in  the  Christian  Church  is  full  of  proofs 
of  this  declaration.  It  would  be  folly  and  wickedness  for 
us  to  try  that  experiment  over  again. 

Modern  physiology  and  physiological  psychology  give 
us  a  solid  basis  for  our  conclusion.  It  actually  measures 
the  physical  correlates  of  the  most  efficient  mental  action, 
the  kinds  and  quantities  of  food  required,  and  the  regime 
of  exercise,  bathing,  sunshine,  ventilation,  and  recreation 
which  is  ordinarily  most  favorable  to  sane  and  vigorous 
spiritual  energy.  It  is  true,  these  general  principles  of 
mental  and  moral  hygiene  must  be  applied  to  individual 
cases  with  discretion  and  discrimination,  and  here  the  phy- 
sician may  be  helpful.  But  take  ten  thousand  students  of 
universities,  and  their  physical  directors,  if  well-trained 
physicians,  can  prescribe  in  advance  and  for  the  great  ma- 
jority, a  discipline  which,  if  faithfully  followed,  will  give 
the  largest  reserve  of  energy  for  the  use  of  the  intellect. 

How  can  surplus  of  vitality  and  of  leisure  be  made 
possible  to  the  rank  and  file  of  wage-earners  and  their 
families? 

The  forces  of  nature  must  be  subjected  to  the  uses  of 
man.  For  human  muscular  effort  we  must  substitute  ani- 
mals, steam,   water-power,  wind-power,  electricity.    The 

11 


162  BARROWS  LECTURES 

change  from  tools  to  machines,  from  foot-power  to  steam- 
power,  is  a  significant  point  in  the  history  of  culture  for  a 
people.  In  using  a  tool  man  furnishes  force;  in  using  a 
machine  he  compels  nature  to  toil  for  him;  for  human  slavery 
is  substituted  the  service  of  natural  powers. 

The  fear  that  "labor-saving"  machinery,  steam-driven, 
will  displace  labor  has  proved  to  be  groundless,  —  except 
for  moments  of  transition,  as  when  the  electric  light  is 
turned  off  only  to  turn  on  a  more  powerful  current  and 
light  of  greater  brilliancy.  Machinery  supports  more  people; 
releases  humanity  from  common  animal  effort  for  the 
production  of  a  greater  variety  of  objects  of  use  and  enjoy- 
ment; and  by  increasing  the  product  of  industry  makes 
higher  wages  and  more  prolonged  leisure  possible.  It  is 
machinery  and  better  industrial  methods  and  organization 
which  bring  leisure  within  the  reach  of  the  multitudes 
of  wage-earners;  not,  however,  without  the  united  de- 
mands of  the  workers  themselves  and  of  social  legislation 
to  set  standards  and  avoid  the  danger  of  unequal  com- 
petition. 

The  ancient  kings  of  Egypt  built  their  pyramids  with 
cheap  slave  labor,  by  sheer  brute  force,  with  a  minimum 
of  science.  The  modern  edifices  are  built  with  free  labor, 
at  high  wages,  aided  by  the  best  machinery  man  has  thus 
far  been  able  to  invent. 

But  along  with  technical  advance  and  larger  organi- 
zation of  industry  has  come  exploitation  of  both  wage- 
earners  and  machinery  by  the  capitalists,  a  small  group 
who  control  the  instruments  of  production  and  hence  hold 
first  title  to  the  product  of  labor,  capital,  and  directing 
ability.  If  this  were  to  move  on  unchecked,  all  or  much  of 
the  advantage  of  modern  invention  might  be  lost  to  the 
majority,  and  we  should  simply  return  to  chaos  and  ancient 
night.  To  prevent  this,  and  with  it  the  ruin  of  the  nations, 
the  people  of  all  Western  lands  havp  interfered  to  harness 


PROVIDING  FOR  PROGRESS  163 

this  new  and  gigantic  power  of  Capital  and  Management 
and  compel  it  to  respect  the  common  rights.  "Social  poli- 
tics" has  just  this  object  for  its  goal. 

II 

THE  EUGENIC  POLICY  IN  RELATION  TO  SOCIAL  PROGRESS 

1.  Natural  Selection.  Progress  has  been  won  in  the 
past  by  struggle  for  life  and  survival  of  the  adapted  and 
by  the  ministry  of  natural  selection.  No  one  has  a  dis- 
position to  deny,  in  the  face  of  modern  biology,  the  up- 
ward tendency  of  evolution  from  humble  organisms  at  the 
margin  of  sea  and  land  to  the  "human  form  divine".  The 
famous  and  epoch-making  studies  of  Darwin  and  his  fellow- 
workers  and  successors  have  illuminated  this  wonderful 
process,  and  explained  many  of  the  causal  forces.  On  a 
limited  territory,  with  restricted  means  of  existence,  the  vari- 
ous species  of  plants  and  animals  have  struggled  for  place 
and  nutrition.  In  the  flow  and  ebb  of  vitality  there  were 
victories  for  the  strong  and  the  cunning,  destruction  for  the 
unadapted.  Countless  ages  of  trial  and  failure  have  passed 
in  this  process,  and,  in  general,  we  may  describe  this 
process  as  progressive,  from  lower  to  higher,  from  base  to 
noble,  from  brute  to  genius. 

But  we  cannot  ignore  the  cost  of  natural  selection. 
The  process,  while  effective,  was  severe  and  attended  by 
enormous  waste  of  life,  by  pain,  by  suffering.  With  organ- 
isms which  had  no  very  sensitive  nervous  systems  this 
method  was  not  so  serious;  when  we  come  to  the  higher 
creatures,  and  especially  to  man,  we  are  in  the  realm  of 
the  most  mysterious  tragedy,  where  reason  is  baffled  and  our 
ethical  standards  seem  to  have  no  place.  The  "fittest"  to 
survive  are  not  always  the  "best";  it  depends  on  environ- 
ment, soil,  nutrition,  and  sunshine.  The  finest  often  perish; 
the  brutal  egoist  succeeds,  —  unless  society  helps  the  best. 

11' 


164 


BARROWS  LECTURES 


2.  Natural  selection  produced  sensitive  organisms, 
parental  sympathy,  domestic  and  tribal  solidarity,  and 
powers  which  enable  man  to 

Look  before  and  after 
And  pine  for  what  is  not. 

One  of  the  manifestations  of  human  sympathy  has 
been  public  and  private  charity,  already  discussed.  When  the 
tragedy  of  natural  selection  became  intolerable,  when  the 
spectacle  of  suffering  could  no  longer  be  endured,  this  in- 
stinct of  sympathy  built  systems  and  institutions  of  relief 
for  the  feeble  infant,  the  sick  and  lame,  the  insane,  the 
epileptic,  the  idiot. 

Instinct  has  no  large  foresight,  and  benevolent  people 
did  not  often  foresee  the  remoter  consequences  of  an  un- 
thinking method  of  mitigating  distress.  Many  do  not 
realize  the  danger  even  yet.  One  of  the  unexpected  results 
of  charity  without  the  directing  wisdom  of  science  is  an 
actual  selection  of  the  unfit  which  tends  to  degradation  of 
mankind.  Charity  has  actually  helped  to  produce  immense 
multitudes  of  the  insane,  the  epileptic,  the  imbecile,  the 
criminal,  and  even  yet  is  not  always  conscious  of  what  it 
is  doing. 

3.  Out  of  the  recognition  of  the  extravagant  cost  of 
natural  selection,  and  the  ruin  wrought  by  blind  charity, 
and  the  development  of  biological  science,  allied  with  social 
science,  has  arisen  the  recent  Eugenic  Policy.  This  eugenic 
policy  may  be  defined  as  a  concerted,  purposive  selection 
of  parents,  in  view  of  the  welfare  of  the  future  race. 

From  very  early  times,  and  in  all  countries,  men  have 
noted  the  importance  of  selecting  domestic  plants  and  ani- 
mals with  reference  to  desirable  qualities.  In  the  Laws 
of  Manu  there  are  hints  on  the  subject  of  selecting  a  wife 
which  indicate  a  very  general  observation  of  the  results  of 
selection  in  human  marriage.  I  have  not  yet  found  any 
allusion  there  to  choice  of  a  husband,  although  wherever 


PROVIDING  FOR  PROGRESS  165 

there  is  freedom  of  choice  feminine  selection  is  an  im- 
portant factor,  as  Darwin  showed. 

Plato  developed  a  eugenic  policy  which  was  entirely 
definite  in  its  purpose  and  method.  His  object  we  can 
still  ponder  with  profit;  his  methods  would  not  bear  dis- 
cussion in  modern  respectable  society.  We  cannot  go 
back  to  the  ancient  method  of  murdering  feeble  infants. 

The  genius  of  Goethe  also  anticipated  the  modern 
eugenic  policy: 

Insane,  at  first,  appears  a  great  intent; 

We  yet  shall  laugh  at  chance  in  generation; 

A  brain  like  this,  for  genuine  thinking  meant, 

Will  henceforth  be  a  thinker's  sure  creation.    (Faust,  II.) 

Sir  Francis  Galton  deserves  vast  honor  for  initiating 
a  really  scientific  investigation  of  the  laws  of  inheritance 
and  the  conditions  of  promoting  a  eugenic  policy.  Karl 
Pearson  and  his  co-workers  are  pursuing  the  study  with 
all  the  appliances  of  scientific  technique;  and  in  all  the 
circles  of  biological,  medical,  and  social  science  the  laws 
of  inheritance  are  the  subject  of  profound  investigation. 

This  eugenic  policy  takes  two  directions, — negative 
selection,  or  the  humane  elimination  of  the  obviously  unfit, 
and  positive  selection,  or  the  ethical  and  religious  en- 
couragement of  vigorous  and  intelligent  citizens  to  produce 
families  of  reasonable  size. 

Ill 

STARTING-POINTS  OF  PROGRESS 

Thus  far  we  have  considered  only  the  material  con- 
ditions of  culture  and  human  progress:  surplus  income, 
vitality,  leisure,  and  the  selection  of  the  better  types  of 
human  beings  for  parenthood. 

But  experience  shows  that  these  conditions  of  pro- 
gress are  not  themselves  progress,  and  may  be  abused. 
Much  depends  on  the  "temptations  upward",  and  on  the 


166  BARROWS  LECTURES 

"up-draft"  of  life.  Canon  and  Mrs.  Barnett  have  told  us 
that  our  problem  is  to  translate  "needs"  into  "wants".  An 
entire  people  may  go  to  ruin  with  plenty  of  wealth,  health, 
and  leisure  as  their  starting-point. 

Unless  a  young  man  of  wealth  has  some  motive  in 
life,  some  worthy  end,  some  ideal  interest,  he  must  inevi- 
tably become  a  parasite,  a  loafer,  a  dilettante,  perhaps  a 
low  debauche.  If  leisure,  health,  and  wealth  are  not  vital- 
ized by  a  lofty,  large,  and  noble  purpose,  they  are  sure  to 
end  in  destruction. 

The  materialist  view  of  history  is  one-sided;  it  pre- 
sents the  external  conditions  of  progress  as  the  germs  of 
progress;  as  if  rich  soil  did  not  need  good  seed  and 
cultivation;  it  assumes  that  opportunity  to  advance  in  cul- 
ture is  ample  assurance  that  the  soul  will  select  the  best 
and  follow  it.  This  is  a  reading  of  history  which  ignores 
an  immense  range  of  facts.  It  is  refuted  by  a  thousand 
observations  of  the  children  of  wealthy  families  and  even 
of  comfortable  artisans  and  farmers  who  have  acquired  a 
surplus  income,  above  the  mere  animal  needs  of  existence, 
and  yet  are  stagnant,  inert,  a  swamp  of  moral  malaria. 

What  further  than  means  and  vitality  and  leisure  are 
required  to  insure  the  progress  of  a  community,  of  a  great 
people?  To  this  deeper  and  more  difficult  question  we 
must  now  address  ourselves. 

The  actual  progress  of  a  people  depends  first  of  all  on 
a  novel  idea.  Mere  repetition  of  models  is  not  progress 
in  the  highest  sense;  though  diffusion  is  also  necessary. 

This  novel  idea  may  be  in  any  one  of  several  spheres: 
1.  in  science;  2.  in  art;  3.  in  philosophy;  4.  in  religion; 
or  in  some  new  application  of  the  principles  of  science  in 
invention,  organization,  administration. 

It  is  true  that  provision  must  be  made  for  socializing 
these  novel  ideas  and  also  for  improving  the  physical 
basis  of  inherited  structure  and  force  and  adaptation  by 


PROVIDING  FOR  PROGRESS  167 

selection  or  by  nurture.  But  first  there  murt  be  the  be- 
ginning of  some  spiritual  possession  which  no  one  in  all 
the  race  has  ever  known  before  or  realized  in  picture, 
music,  verse,  or  institution. 

Physical  qualities  of  the  race  may  be  improved,  some 
think,  while  others  deny, — by  careful  selection,  according 
to  the  principles  of  horticulture  and  stock-raising.  Perhaps 
the  number  of  persons  of  rare  and  superior  ability  may 
by  this  process  be  greatly  increased;  possibly  brains 
superior  to  those  of  Socrates,  Plato,  Aristotle,  Goethe, 
Shakespeare  may  yet  be  grown.  We  are  not  in  a  position 
to  deny  such  possibilities. 

But,  what  we  are  absolutely  certain  can  be  achieved 
is  the  augmentation  of  the  spiritual  riches  and  traditions  of 
the  race  in  science,  art,  literature,  practical  invention. 

In  the  biological  sense,  none  of  this  is  inherited;  each 
child  must  make  it  his  own  by  personal  effort.  But  in  the 
wider  social  sense,  this  tradition  or  treasure  of  culture  can 
be  safely  committed  to  writing  or  photography  and  engrav- 
ing, or  to  painting,  sculpture,  and  architecture,  and  so  be 
handed  down  undiminished,  yea,  constantly  enlarged  and 
enriched,  from  generation  to  generation. 

It  is  not  so  much  the  material  form  which  endures 
and  carries  forward  this  choice  inheritance;  for,  buildings, 
manuscripts,  pictures,  books  fall  to  pieces  under  the  piti- 
less tooth  of  time.  Only  in  fresh  reproductions,  new  edi- 
tions, multiplied  re-issues,  copies,  is  the  spiritual  treasure 
transmitted,  unimpaired,  improved. 

The  poet  and  the  saint  are  thus  among  the  initiators 
of  progress;  they  bring  us  to  a  purer  air  and  a  loftier  view. 

One  of  the  most  inspiring  leaders  of  Modern  Italy, 
Joseph  Mazzini,  has  voiced  the  eternal  truth: 

No,  eternal  God !  The  Word  is  not  all  fulfilled ;  Thy  thought, 
the  thought  of  the  world,  not  all  revealed.  That  thought  creates 
still,' and  will  continue  to  create  for  ages  incalculable  by  man.    The 


168  BARROWS  LECTURES 

ages  that  have  passed  have  but  revealed  to  us  some  fragments  of 

it Forms  are  modified  and  dissolved  —  religious  beliefs  are 

exhausted.  The  human  spirit  leaves  them  behind,  as  the  traveller 
leaves  behind  the  fires  that  warmed  him  through  the  night,  and  seeks 
another  scene.  But  religion  remains :  the  idea  is  immortal,  survives 
the  dead  forms,  and  is  reborn  from  its  own  ashes The  pro- 
gressive evolution  of  the  thought  of  God,  of  which  our  world  is  the 
visible  manifestation,  is  unceasingly  continuous. 

Faith  requires  an  aim  capable  of  embracing  life  as  a  whole 

It  requires  an  earnest  unalterable  conviction  that  that  aim  will  be 
realized ;  a  profound  belief  in  a  mission,  and  the  obligation  to  fulfil 
it ;  and  the  consciousness  of  a  supreme  power  watching  over  the 
path  of  the  faithful  towards  its  accomplishment.  Those  elements  are 
indispensable  to  faith ;  and  when  any  one  of  them  is  wanting,  we 
shall  have  sects,  schools,  political  parties,  but  no  faith ;  no  constant 
hourly  sacrifice  for  the  sake  of  a  great  religious  idea. 

IV 

This  spiritual  heritage  is  not  increased  by  men  of 
genius  alone,  although  their  initiation  is  precious  and 
glorious.  In  the  advance  of  science  every  well-trained 
laboratory  student  has  a  chance  of  adding  at  least  some 
little  item  to  the  sum  of  knowledge;  and  so  throughout 
the  civilized  world  thousands  of  young  men  and  women 
are  busy  following  the  suggestions  of  pioneers  and  excep- 
tional professors  and  bringing  out  new  facts  and  aspects 
of  truth.  The  individual  is  a  pigmy;  the  University  is 
Leviathan. 

Novel  ideas  are  discovered  and  expressed  by  the 
"superman",  the  higher  personality.  In  the  best  schools 
of  design  the  students  are  encouraged  to  follow  their  own 
fancies,  to  observe  carefully  the  infinitely  varied  aspects 
of  vegetation,  animal  life,  and  the  human  form  divine,  and 
compose  new  pictures.  Out  of  all  these  trials  new  com- 
binations of  color  and  line  and  form  emerge  and  become 
the  permanent  possessions  of  the  race. 

Humble  journalists,  newspaper  reporters,  quick  and 
shrewd  observers  of  life,  sometimes  hit  upon   a   telling 


PROVIDING  FOR  PROGRESS  169 

phrase  or  epithet  which  gives  to  the  whole  community  a 
more  powerful  means  of  expressing  and  communicating  its 
inmost  thought  or  feeling.  In  the  great  manufacturing 
establishments,  as  is  well  known,  the  ordinary  mechanics 
and  foremen  every  year  work  out,  step  by  step,  slight 
improvements  in  machinery  or  organization  or  handling 
materials  or  transporting  products  or  keeping  accounts, 
and  these  improvements  are  made  general  property  by 
publication  and  imitation. 

Obscure  talents  come  out  in  adversity.  Blanco  White, 
it  is  said,  wrote  little  that  is  famous;  but  one  little  sonnet 
the  world  will  not  willingly  forget,  while  men  aspire  and 
hope  and  doubt  and  fear. 

Mysterious  night,  when  our  first  parents  knew 

Thee  by  report  divine  and  heard  thy  name, 

Did  they  not  tremble  for  this  lovely  frame, 

This  glorious  canopy  of  light  and  blue  ? 

Yet  who  could  think,  while  leaf  and  insect  stood 

Revealed,  to  countless  worlds  thou  mad'st  us  blind  ? 

When  Hesperus  with  the  hosts  of  heaven  came, 

Lo !  all  creation  widened  on  man's  view. 

Why  do  we  then  shun  death  with  anxious  strife? 

If  light  can  thus  deceive,  wherefore  not  life? 

Many  a  humble  writer  has  kindled  a  fire  which  has 
grown  to  conflagration.  Illustrations  may  be  drawn  from 
social  hygiene  and  medicine.  For  example:  The  Creche, 
established  by  Firmin  Marbeau,  in  1844,  in  Paris,  was 
rapidly  adopted  in  Europe  and  America.  The  Goufte  de  lait 
of  Dr.  Dufour  and  the  Consultation  de  Nourrissons  of  Dr. 
Budin,  the  inventions  of  Babcock  and  of  Soxhlet,  to  test  and 
sterilize  milk,  are  examples  of  new  methods  of  applying 
science  to  better  conditions  of  human  life  and  improve  the 
works  of  philanthropy;  and  they  have  been  published  and 
imitated  far  and  wide.  But  imagination  and  invention  have 
been  quick  and  helpful  in  the  life  of  many  an  unheralded 


170 


BARROWS  LECTURES 


country  doctor,  in  ten  thousand  workshops,  in  countless 
primary  schools,  in  farms  and  gardens. 

The  Superman,  if  he  be  as  unselfish  as  William 
the  Silent,  or  Abraham  Lincoln,  may  render  a  conspicuous 
service  to  mankind;  and  he  is  not  superior,  unless  he 
serves  his  fellows.  He  is  mean,  if  he  takes  advantage  of 
his  superior  force  to  injure  others.    The  genuine  Superman 

is  in 

All  the  circle  of  the  wise, 
The  perfect  flower  of  human  time. 

And,  moving  up  from  higher  to  higher, 
Becomes  on  Fortune's  crowning  slope 
The  pillar  of  a  people's  hope, 
The  center  of  a  world's  desire. 

(TENNYSON,  In  Memoriam) 


The  regime  of  freedom  of  thought  and  speech  and 
publication  is  necessary  to  the  unfolding  of  novel  ideas 
and  higher  personalities. 

One  problem  of  the  modern  nation  is: — how  to  dis- 
cover, stimulate,  encourage,  direct,  educate  these  exceptional 
spirits.  For  genius  is  also  under  law;  for  it  there  must  be 
a  sufficient  cause;  and  causes  can  be  discovered  and 
effects  produced.  It  is  difficult  to  say  how  much  fine 
talent  has  been  overlooked  in  the  past  and  present,  or 
even  suppressed,  by  poverty,  oppression,  mockery,  bigotry, 
custom. 

A  community  which  really  desires  progress,  must  pro- 
vide room  and  freedom.  Trees  are  dwarfed  by  depriving 
them  of  nutrition.  Certain  methods  of  wrapping  infants 
prevent  the  development  of  muscles,  retard  growth,  lower 
vitality.  The  baby  must  cry  and  kick,  if  it  lives  thoroughly 
and  becomes  strong  and  agile.  Freedom  is,  of  course, 
dangerous.   A  wheel-barrow  is  not  so  dangerous  as  a  loco- 


PROVIDING  FOR  PROGRESS  171 

motive,  but  it  is  also  more  limited  in  its  usefulness.  A 
people  which  cannot  tolerate  with  good  humor  a  certain 
liberty  of  speech  and  writing,  a  certain  violence  to  conven- 
tions and  creeds,  cannot  hope  to  march  abreast  with  the 
advancing  peoples. 

America  has  learned  this  lesson,  in  some  degree,  by 
bitter  experience.  It  was  once  intolerant  and  persecuting 
and  narrow,  in  a  great  degree;  its  established  Churches 
persecuted  dissenters  even  to  death  or  drove  them  from 
their  homes.  They  shut  the  mouths  of  some  of  their  ablest 
men. 

How  do  we  know  what  a  man  can  or  will  say,  until 
he  has  said  it?  Can  discovery,  invention,  and  novel  appli- 
cation be  stimulated,  encouraged,  directed  by  wise  social 
action?  Undoubtedly,  as  the  history  of  education  demon- 
strates. 

Genius  may  strike  out  new  routes  by  land,  or  sea,  or 
air  without  apparent  help  from  teachers;  but,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  Socrates,  Plato,  Goethe,  Shakespeare  were  children 
of  their  own  age  as  well  as  its  leaders.  Men  of  genius 
are  no  longer  regarded  as  accidents  and  mysteries.  They 
are  the  result  of  all  that  went  before,  though  we  gladly 
confess  they  are  also  new  beginnings  of  better  things. 

Shakespeare  first  gathered  up  into  himself  all  the  ideas 
of  his  time,  taking  hints  from  the  Bible,  from  the  conver- 
sation of  his  neighbors  about  all  human  activities,  from 
Italian  literature,  from  translations  of  the  ancient  classics, 
from  folk  songs  and  stories  current  in  his  group  of  ac- 
quaintances from  childhood  upward.  Then  he  combined 
all  this  wealth  of  words,  images,  ideas,  in  a  wonderful 
composition  to  which  he  lent  the  touch  of  his  exceptional 
powers  of  organization,  invention,  and  artistic  formation.  A 
Shakespeare  could  never  arise  in  Central  Africa;  or,  if  he 
could  by  miracle  arise,  he  could  not  make  himself  under- 
stood. Genius  is  at  once  a  social  product  and  a  social  cause. 


172 


BARROWS  LECTURES 


We  have  found  that  the  best  way  is  to  let  men  speak 
and  act  with  considerable  range  of  liberty  and  hold  them 
responsible  for  the  effects.  We  have  found  that  while, 
under  this  system,  men  say  and  do  many  foolish,  silly, 
wasteful,  wicked  things,  on  the  whole,  this  generally  cor- 
rects itself  or  can  be  corrected  without  too  much  inter- 
ference. If  a  few  people  foolishly  found  a  new  sect,  we 
let  them  pay  their  own  expenses,  and  this  tends  to  make 
them  reflect  on  the  unwisdom  of  schism.  When  they  find 
the  burden  is  heavy,  they  are  likely  to  seek  for  co-operation, 
and  this  calls  for  reasoning,  criticism,  debate,  larger 
breadth  of  view.  After  a  few  generations  the  narrow  sect 
becomes  catholic. 

We  have  discovered — also  by  trial  of  errors  and  sins — 
that  persecution,  intolerance,  suppression  of  thought  are 
evidences  of  scepticism,  even  of  infidelity.  To  use  the 
power  of  a  majority  to  exterminate  dissent  is  not  a  sign  of 
great  faith  in  truth,  but  of  doubt  of  its  inherent  ability  to 
convince,  its  want  of  adaptation  to  the  human  reason  and 
to  social  needs. 

The  amazing  achievements  of  modern  science  have 
increased  our  confidence  in  the  value  of  our  method,  the 
precision  and  reliability  of  our  instruments  of  research. 
Among  these  methods  are  those  of  discussion,  publication, 
controlled  experimentation,  practical  trial,  and  competent 
criticism, — which,  again,  could  not  exist  without  freedom 
and  tolerance  of  differences.  Nothing  makes  capable  and 
honest  men  more  careful  about  their  studies  and  statements 
than  the  fear  of  criticism  of  the  specialists.  The  real  scholar 
knows  that  mere  popularity  means  little;  he  cares  absolutely 
nothing  for  the  majority  vote,  which  is  usually  wrong.  What 
he  does  wish  to  win  is  the  deserved  approval  of  men  who 
have  a  right  to  speak  and  who  have  tested  his  conclusions. 

The  modern  scientific  man  is  in  revolt  against  Church 
and  clerical  authority.    He  is  not  noisy  or  defiant,  but  sim- 


PROVIDING  FOR  PROGRESS  173 

ply  and  quietly  determined.    There  is  no  longer  need  of 
fighting. 

A.  D.  White,  himself  a  religious  man,  in  his  book  on 
Warfare  of  Science  and  Theology,  has  given  abundant  proof 
and  illustration  and  explanation  of  this  fact.  No  one  who 
is  familiar  with  university  men  has  any  doubt  about  it.  It 
is  taken  for  granted  that  a  scientific  man  will  not  permit 
himself  to  be  influenced  by  what  the  Church  or  its  clergy 
think,  unless  these  are  in  sympathy  with  progressive 
methods.     The  reasons  are  obvious: 

1.  The  Church  in  the  past  has  made  too  many  mistakes 
and  committed  too  many  wrongs  against  men  of  intellect 
and  progress  to  accept  its  demands  without  criticism. 

2.  The  method  of  reasoning  from  premises  already 
accepted  as  beyond  criticism,  vitiates  the  scientific  process 
from  the  beginning.  It  is  the  foundation  of  knowledge  of 
which  the  scientific  man  wishes  to  be  sure  and  by  an  ex- 
perimental and  inductive  procedure. 

3.  The  clergy,  as  a  rule,  have  not  had  modern,  scientific 
training.  They  have  been  brought  up  on  grammar,  literature, 
more  or  less  classics;  the  books  they  study  were  written 
long  before  modern  scientific  methods  had  been  developed. 

4.  The  clergy  are  not  specialists  in  science.  They 
have  no  right  to  dictate  conclusions  to  men  outside  their 
own  field, — if,  then! 

This  quiet  but  determined  refusal  of  scientific  men  to 
accept  the  guidance  and  authority  of  the  Church  does  not 
always  mean  irreligious  doubt.  Many  scientific  men  are 
devout  and  profoundly  interested  in  religious  life  and  work. 
But  just  so  far  as  the  clergy  insist  on  the  acceptance  of 
doctrines  which  conflict  with  the  conclusions  or  methods 
of  science,  just  so  far  do  they  adopt  a  policy  which  tends 
to  make  men  revolt  against  religion  itself,  because  they  see 
it  identified  with  bigotry  and  intolerance.  These  are  lessons 
we  have  learned  by  trial,  and  now,  as  a  result,  many  of 


174  li ARROWS  UiCTURES 

the  most  enlluisi.'istic  lenders  of  science  are  earnest  reIi.[,'ious 
men,  and  the  clerj^'y  have  come  to  regard  higher  education 
as  worthy  of  tiieir  consecrated  labors.  The  unhappy  and 
ruinous  conflicts  of  the  past  are  almost  at  an  end. 

VI 

SHLF-OOVERNMENT 

As  the  wage-earners  share  in  the  intellectual  and 
political  life  of  the  time,  they  naturally  desire  to  t)e  them- 
selves creative,  causal  factors  in  the  world.  lilducation 
and  religion  stinnilate  consciousness  of  f)crsonality.  The 
new  political  power  which  has  come  to  workers  in  all 
nations  of  the  Onidcnt  has  given  lliem  a  new  sensation 
of  personal  worth.  Very  rapidly,  under  the  influence  of 
socialistic  agitators,  they  are  learning  the  full  import  of 
the  suffrage,  in  the  shop  and  mine  they  are  not  con- 
sulted; they  are  nonentities;  they  toil  and  suffer,  hut  must 
be  silent;  there  they  are  disfranchised.  But  on  election 
day  they  can  vote  for  the  representatives  in  legislatures  of 
cities,  states,  nations.  There  llii'y  are  aware  of  activity 
in  government,  which  is  an  agreeable  change  for  a  man 
from  the  passive  role  of  the  workplace.  When  the  wage- 
earners  become  fully  aware  of  their  power  through  legis- 
lation over  the  "captains  of  industry",  they  will  assert 
themselves  more  and  more  positively.  We  can  easily  see 
what  is  before  us.  It  is  not  a  l)li)(»ily  revoliilion  in  which 
the  "Have-nots"  will  take  violent  possession  of  the  property 
of  the  rich;  it  will  be  simply  and  cpijetly  the  increasing 
coiilrol  and  direction  of  (Drpni.iiidiis,  in  the  common 
iiiten'st  of  all,  by  the  legal  re[)reseiitatives  of  all. 

Are  tile  wage-earners  of  the  Western  World  yet  pre- 
pared for  this  vast  responsibility?  Have  they  the  ability, 
the  training,  the  teihnical  knowledge,  the  foresight,  the 
sclf-m;istery  which  will  make  it  safe  to  wield  such  enor- 
mous powers  of  control  over  the  titanic  forces  of  capital, 


PROVIDING  FOR  PROGRESS  175 

industry,  and  commerce?  Few  would  be  hardy  enough 
to  venture  a  prophecy.  Certainly,  bankruptcy  would  fall 
upon  any  people  whose  business  were  in  the  direct  con- 
trol of  the  wage-earners  in  the  present  state  of  popular 
education. 

But  public  management  of  business,  responsive  to 
universal  suffrage,  would  not  necessarily  mean  that  all  the 
details  of  administration  would  be  voted  upon  at  the 
elections.  That  would  be  absurd.  It  would  mean  only 
that  the  people  would  select  their  representatives  in  legis- 
latures, charge  them  to  carry  out  a  general  policy  of  common 
advantage,  and  displace  them,  if  they  fail. 

Preparation  for  this  larger  measure  of  political  control 
of  industry  and  commerce  has  begun  in  the  trade-union. 
There,  as  nowhere  else,  the  wage-earners  actually  partici- 
pate in  discussions  of  their  economic  interests  and  exercise 
their  right  to  vote  on  general  policies  affecting  their  income, 
their  health,  their  happiness,  their  lives.' 

Some  of  the  most  sagacious  capitalist  managers  under- 
stand the  necessity  of  this  preparation  of  the  toiling  masses 
for  their  larger  responsibilities,  and  have  begun  to  take 
their  employes,  in  var}dng  degrees,  into  their  confidence. 

The  Conseils  de  Prud'hommes  of  France  for  over  a 
hundred  years  have  brought  employers  and  employes 
together  in  council  to  consider  questions  affecting  the 
interests  of  both  parties.  The  industrial  courts  of  Germany 
and  the  joint  insurance  committees  have  performed  a 
similar  service.  The  committees  and  boards  of  conci- 
liation in  England  and  the  United  States  and  Canada  are 
useful  in  the  sam.e  field.  In  many  large  establishments 
the  representatives  chosen  by  the  directors  and  by  the 
employes  sit  on  terms  of  equality  about  a  table  and  learn 
from  each  other  and  reach  agreement  after  a  patient  and 

■  See  S.  &  B.  Webb,  Industrial  Democracy. 


1 76  BARRO  WS  LECTURES 

fair  hearing.  All  this  is  part  of  the  education  of  the  work- 
ing-men for  the  greater  responsibility  which  the  future 
will  inevitably  bring  to  them. 

The  humane  sentiment  is  a  causal  factor  in  this  pro- 
gressive movement.  On  this  point,  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to 
cite  the  recent  work  of  one  of  our  most  distinguished 
economists  in  the  oldest  American  university,  one  whose 
accurate  scholarship  commands  respect  and  whose  critical 
judgment  is  beyond  dispute.  In  his  hands  political  economy 
is  no  longer  the  "dismal  science". 

Professor  Taussig  {Principles  of  Economics,  II,  323) 
says:  "I  know  of  no  satisfactory  evidence  to  show  whether 
the  chances  of  illness  uncared  for,  of  disabling  accident, 
penniless  old  age,  are  greater  now  than  in  former  times. 
But  the  modern  world  is  clearly  more  sensitive  to  the  evils. 
Here,  as  elsewhere,  conditions  accepted  in  former  days  as 
matters  of  course  are  now  regarded  as  intolerable,  and  a 
strenuous  effort  is  made  to  remedy  them." 

Speaking  (p.  334)  of  the  fact  that  great  nations  can 
always  find  money  for  war,  though  they  are  frightened  at 
the  cost  of  helping  laboring  men  to  more  security  and 
comfort:  "If  the  impulse  of  sympathy  were  as  strong  as 
the  ancient  and  brutal  fighting  instinct,  we  should  hear 
little  of  financial  obstacles  in  the  way  of  schemes  for  far- 
reaching  social  improvement." 

"The  moving  force  in  bringing  about  all  the  mass  of 
labor  regulation  and  restriction  has  been  the  great  wave 
of  human  sympathy  which  has  come  over  the  civilized 
world  during  the  last  century  and  a  half,  and  has  so  pro- 
foundly (often  unconsciously)  influenced  the  attitude  of  all 
men  on  social  and  political  problems.  Altruism  has  wi- 
dened its  scope;  the  suffering  of  fellow-men  and  of  women 
and  children  distresses  as  it  never  did  before.  Wretched- 
ness that  was  accepted  as  a  matter  of  course  a  few  cen- 
turies ago,  is  now  not  to  be  endured" (p.  290). 


PROVIDING  FOR  PROGRESS  177 

"This  appeal  to  a  half-selfish  motive,  to  the  pride  of 

race  and  nationality,  no  doubt  has  its  effect.    But  the  main 

force  is  that  religion  of  humanity  which  aims  to  make  life 

happier  for  all The  civilized  world  is  not  worse 

than  it  has  been;  it  is  much  better;  and  better  most  of  all 

in  this  regard,  that  all  human  suffering  hurts  to  the  quick, 

and  more  and  more  of  public  and  private  effort  is  given 

to  lessening  it." 

VII 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  AND  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  NATION-BUILDINQ 
IN  THE  WEST 

It  must  be  evident  that  people  dwelling  on  the  same 
territory  can  never  accomplish  the  highest  and  grandest 
achievements  without  co-operation  to  a  common  end. 
National  life  is  precious,  but  it  is  costly,  and  the  price 
must  be  paid.  The  people  of  Europe  were  originally 
divided  into  small  groups  or  tribes  which  were  constantly 
at  war  with  each  other  and  too  weak  to  resist  the  mur- 
derous and  destructive  invasions  of  warlike  barbarians 
who  swept  over  the  continent  in  successive  waves  of 
conquest  far  down  into  our  era. 

Powerful  kings  welded  together  many  of  these  groups, 
and  Charlemagne's  vast  dream,  though  not  even  yet  fully 
realized,  has  been  ever  since  his  day  a  potent  influence. 
During  the  Middle  Ages  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  pro- 
vided the  only  continuous  international  bond  of  one  faith, 
one  language,  one  standard  of  culture.  With  all  its  errors 
and  evils,  it  should  have  credit  for  this  important  service, 
without  which  modern  national  spirit  and  cosmopolitan 
co-operation  could  not  exist. 

Among  the  most  powerful  political  creations  of  the 
West  are  the  British,  French,  Italian,  and  German  nations, 
which  are  typical  examples  of  a  universal  tendency  to 
bring  connected  peoples  under  a  single  flag,  symbol  of  a 
common  social  ambition.    In  these  vast  political  combi- 

12 


178 


BARROWS  LECTURES 


nations,  force  and  conquest  tend  to  become  more  and  more 
subordinate  factors.  The  unifying  forces  are  not  merely 
likeness  of  race  and  beliefs,  but  tolerance  of  differences 
and  co-operation  for  common  ends.  It  is  entirely  natural 
that  all  Germans  should  look  back  with  exultant  pride 
to  the  magnificent  educational,  literary,  political,  and  re- 
ligious leaders,  from  Luther  down  to  Bismarck,  who  welded 
related  but  divided  groups  into  one  puissant  nation,  leader 
of  the  world  in  science,  in  arts,  in  industries,  in  commerce, 
with  its  flag  at  the  mast-top  of  many  a  vessel  on  all  the  seas. 

Who  can  read  the  story  of  Garibaldi,  Cavour,  Mazzini, 
and  King  Immanuel,  and  their  heroic  and  triumphant 
sacrifices  for  a  united  nation,  without  sharing  the  Italian 
enthusiasm  for  the  faith-born  courage  which  shaped  out  of 
an  aggregation  of  feeble  and  subject  states  a  splendid  and 
powerful  nation? 

The  little  Republic  of  Switzerland  has  its  story  worth 
telling,  of  a  federation  of  cantons,  with  people  of  French, 
Italian,  and  German  origin,  with  three  languages  spoken 
in  their  parliament,  yet  all  bravely  and  manfully  uniting 
to  maintain  their  independence,  Catholics  and  Protestant 
laboring  shoulder  to  shoulder. 

We  of  America  have  witnessed  another  successful 
experiment  of  a  quite  different  kind,  but  of  equal  moment, 
the  dominion  of  Canada.  I  have  traversed  its  vast  territory, 
wider  than  my  own  United  States,  and  have  learned  by 
personal  observation  to  respect  and  rejoice  in  the  noble 
enterprise  of  a  new  nation,  free,  and  yet  federated  with 
the  Empire  on  which  the  sun  never  sets,  loyal  and  stronger 
for  its  loyalty.  There  also  Catholic  and  Protestant,  English, 
Scotch,  and  French,  have  learned  to  respect  their  differences 
and  to  unite  in  one  mighty  co-operative  enterprise,  which 
must  benefit  the  millions  of  its  growing  population. 

Will  you  permit  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  to  at  least 
mention  the  formation  of  his  own  nation?  In  all  history,  was 


PROVIDING  FOR  PROGRESS  179 

ever  tragedy  and  triumph  more  strangely  mingled?  We  had 
to  pass  through  the  fiery  baptism  of  a  horrible  Civil  War 
that  we  might  be  washed  clean  of  the  iniquities  of  slavery 
and  might  establish  for  ever  the  fundamental  law  that  we 
tiave  a  nation  and  not  merely  a  loose  federation  of  divided 
states;  and  in  this  faith  the  North  and  the  South  now 
loyally  agree.  Our  national  unity  is  again  being  tested  in 
another  manner,  perhaps  not  less  severe:  millions  of 
immigrants  crowd  our  cities  and  bring  with  them  their 
different  languages,  antagonistic  beliefs,  strange  customs, 
ignorance  of  our  history,  laws,  and  institutions.  One  would 
expect  dissolution  and  intestine  feud;  and  we  do  have 
difficulty.  But  we  see  already  before  our  eyes  Celt  and 
Saxon,  Italian  and  Hungarian,  Catholic  and  Jew,  each 
ret  lining  his  folk-stories,  songs,  ritual,  and  language,  but 
all  proud  of  being  Americans '.  They  bring  their  several 
flags,  but  the  stars  and  stripes  float  over  every  school-house. 
They  worship,  each  in  his  own  way,  but  there  is  one  God. 
They  have  their  alien  dialects,  but  all  learn  English,  the 
most  widely  diffused  of  all  languages.  And  no  more  loyal 
and  patriotic  American  can  be  found  even  in  New  England 
than  these  same  immigrants,  when  they  have  entered  into 
their  Land  of  Promise  and  tasted  the  sweet  air  of  its 
liberty  and  founded  their  own  homes  in  security  under  the 
shelter  of  its  constitution.  But  a  great  price  must  be  paid 
for  this  union  and  power  of  a  nation:  tolerance,  justice, 
and  a  chance  for  the  poorest  and  the  most  obscure  of  all 
citizens  to  rise  as  far  as  his  ability  will  enable  him  to 
Climb.  Unless  this  is  an  essential  and  even  religious 
faith  of  all,  we  may  have  an  aggregation  of  tribes  dwelling 
on  the  same  territory,  but  a  nation  we  cannot  have.  Des- 
potism may,  for  a  time,  hold  together  discordant  groups 
as  with  hoops  of  iron,  but  despotism,  privilege,  intol- 
erance are  incapable  of  creating  a  free  nation;  only  kind- 

'  See  Mary  Austen,  The  Promised  Land. 

12* 


ISO  BARROWS  LECTURES 

ness,  justice,  education,  common  faith   can  achieve   true 
nationality. 

VIII 

Educational  agencies,  organized  into  a  social  system, 
are  necessary  to  stimulate,  guide,  discipline,  and  inspire 
personal  progress  everywhere. 

Under  the  title  "Education"  we  must  here  include  all 
the  institutions  created  by  society  for  stimulating  the  in- 
telligence, refining  the  taste,  and  invigorating  the  character 
of  a  people. 

1.  We  have  the  institutions  and  agencies  for  teaching 
what  is  already  known, — in  general  the  formation  of  ele- 
mentary and  secondary  schools,  of  churches,  of  colleges, 
of  newspapers  and  popular  magazines,  of  museums  and 
galleries  of  art,  and  of  theatres. 

2.  We  have  the  institutions  and  agencies  for  dis- 
covering new  truth,  for  discovering  higher  talents  and 
genius,  for  developing  creative  gifts  in  all  directions. 

Illustrations  are  found  in  laboratories  of  chemistry, 
physics,  and  the  biological  and  psychological  sciences;  in 
the  institutes  for  medical  research, — as  those  of  Koch, 
Pasteur,  Carnegie,  Rockefeller  (N,  Y.),  and  many  others.  In 
certain  schools  of  painting,  sculpture,  architecture,  music, 
and  dramatic  expression,  the  discovery  of  new  ideas  and 
of  creative  ability  is  a  conscious  end  in  the  minds  of  the 
directors. 

Education  has  been  called  the  "short  cut"  to  mastery 
of  science.  The  traditions  of  culture  are  already  vast  and 
they  are  increasing  rapidly. 

One  problem  of  education  is  to  simplify  and  select 
the  essential  principles  of  the  sciences,  those  bodies  of 
knowledge  which  all  citizens  must  possess  in  order  to  live 
a  worthy  human  life. 

Another  problem  of  education  is  to  help  the  child  to 
move  rapidly  forward,  without  friction,  waste,  loss,  or  re- 


PROVIDING  FOR  PROGRESS  181 

petition,  to  this  mastery  of  the  essentials  of  science,  art, 
morality,  faith.  It  is  now  declared  that  at  least  three 
precious  years  can  be  saved  by  proper  arrangement  of 
studies  in  childhood  and  youth.  But  this  division  between 
learning  and  discovery  must  not  be  made  too  absolute.  In 
fact,  from  the  kindergarten  upward,  the  method  of  educa- 
tion, of  instruction,  should  be  such  as  to  encourage  and 
stimulate  originality.  Nature  itself  provides  the  starting- 
points  in  the  special  "genius"  of  each  pupil.  That  edu- 
cation is  perverted  which  seeks  to  "mould"  the  character 
of  the  child.  The  function  of  the  teacher  is  at  once  more 
humble  and  reverent  and  more  sublime  than  that.  For,  the 
true  educator  is  an  interpreter  of  the  Creator,  watches 
with  reverence  the  expressions  of  personal  character,  and 
offers  them  adequate  guidance. 

In  "The  Wood-Carver  of  'Lympus",  Miss  M.  E. 
Waller  has  told  a  charming  and  inspiring  story  of  a  young 
man  whose  college  career  was  cut  short  by  the  fall  of  a 
log  which  paralysed  his  legs  and  made  him  a  helpless 
cripple.  At  first  he  was  bitter,  desperate,  and  blasphemed 
life  and  God.  But  a  gentle,  strong,  wise  man  from  the 
city  on  a  summer  vacation  in  the  hills  found  him,  opened 
up  to  him  the  possibilities  of  artistic  wood-carving,  sent 
him  books  about  sculptors  and  drawings  of  fine  work, 
aroused  his  aesthetic  interest,  set  him  to  the  task  of  self- 
education,  and  made  of  the  hopeless,  useless  cripple  a 
happy  and  useful  producer  of  beautiful  furniture. 

It  is  a  type  of  some  of  the  best  things  done  by  our 
public  schools,  schools  of  art  and  industry.  I  have  seen 
it  in  reform  schools  of  Italy,  France,  Germany,  and  America, 
where  crippled  souls  from  the  slums  of  great  cities  have 
found  themselves  and  risen  from  the  slimy  gutter  to  places 
of  honor  and  beauty. 

The  outlook  is  measured  by  the  vision  of  religious 
faith.    The  hope  of  immortality  of  redeemed,  purified,  and 


182  BARROWS  LECTURES 

enlightened  spirits  opens  a  new  universe  for  progress. 
Doubt  is  narrow.  "A  Sadducee  asking  his  way  to  Utopia 
will  never  find  it."  The  true  spirit  says:  "I  am  here  as 
God's  child,  God's  agent,  a  creative  force,  a  divine  will 
moving  toward  higher  ends.  I  am  here  to  transform  this 
world ...  in  accordance  with  a  divine  ideal  revealed  to  me 

progressively  by  my  endeavor Day  by  day  is  revealed 

to  me  the  deeper  meaning  of  human  life,  and  some  time 
there  shall  be  revealed  the  blessed  mystery  of  it  all,  then 
shall  we  know  what  is  that  good  and  acceptable  and  per- 
fect will  of  God."    (S.  D.  Crothers,  d.  d.) 

IX 

We  have  come  to  the  conclusion  of  our  interpretation 
of  the  Social  Programmes  of  the  West;  and  I  am  loathe 
to  close  this  interview  with  my  friendly  hearers  in  the  East. 

Permit  me  to  sum  up  all  I  have  tried  to  indicate  in 
these  crowded  moments,  in  one  phrase  whose  full  signifi- 
cance came  out  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  my 
Master.  He  loved  to  speak  of  "The  Kingdom  of  God", 
and  the  character  of  the  King  he  set  forth  in  the  universal 
prayer  without  one  sectarian  note: 

Our  Father  who  art  in  heaven; 

Thy  Kingdom  come, 

Thy  Will  be  done, 

On  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven. 

Our  great  English  poet,  Tennyson,  has  taught  us  to 
think  of  the  parliament  of  man,  the  federation  of  the  world, 
of  a  time  when  war  drums  will  throb  no  longer  and  battle 
flags  shall  be  furled.  But  that  is  only  a  political  idea, 
and  politics  is  merely  an  instrument,  not  an  ultimate  value. 
It  is  in  the  Symphony  of  Lanier  that  we  find  a  typical 
expression  of  the  harmony  of  all  human  hopes,  interests,  and 
high  duties;  and  I  will  let  my  poet  countryman  win  my 
faith: 


PROVIDING  FOR  PROGRESS  183 

The  Symphony  (s.  lanier) 

Life!  Life!  thou  sea-fugue,  writ  from  east  to  west. 

Love,  Love  alone  can  pour 

On  tliy  dissolving  score 

Of  harsh  half-phrasings, 

Blotted  ere  writ, 

And  double  erasings 

Of  chords  most  fit. 

Yea,  Love,  sole  music  master  blest, 
May  read  thy  weltering  palimpsest. 
To  follow  Time's  dying  melodies  through. 
And  never  to  lose  the  old  in  the  new, 
And  ever  to  solve  the  discords  true — 
Love  alone  can  do. 

And  ever  Love  hears  the  poor-folks  crying, 
And  ever  Love  hears  the  women's  sighing. 
And  ever  sweet  knighthood's  death  defying. 
And  ever  wise  childhood's  deep  implying, 
But  never  a  trader's  glozing  and  lying. 

And  yet  shall  Love  himself  be  heard. 
Though  long  deferred,  though  long  deferred; 
O'er  the  modern  waste  a  dove  hath  whirred: 
Music  is  love  in  search  of  a  word. 


And  I  will  let  the  poet  laureate  of  my  motherland 
speak,  with  still  clearer  accent,  of  the  supreme  element  of 
influence  in  all  that  is  best  and  most  enduring  in  our 
Western  World: 

Follow  you  the  Star  that  lights  a  desert  pathway,  yours  or  mine. 
Forward,  till  you  see  the  highest  Human  Nature  is  divine. 

Follow  Light,  and  do  the  Right — for  man  can  half  control 

his  doom — 
Till  you  find  the  deathless  Angel  seated  in  the  vacant  tomb. 

Forward,  let  the  stormy  moment  fly  and  mingle  with  the  Past. 
I  that  loathed,  have  come  to  love  him.    Love  will 

conquer  at  the  last. 

Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After,  Tennyson. 


184  BARROWS  LECTURES 

Tennyson  sings  of  the  better  day  coming  for  all  man- 
kind {In  Memoriam): 

Ring  out  the  old,  ring  in  the  new, 
Ring,  happy  bells,  across  the  snow; 
The  year  is  going,  let  him  go; 
Ring  out  the  false,  ring  in  the  true. 

Ring  out  the  grief  that  saps  the  mind, 
For  those  that  here  we  see  no  more ; 
Ring  out  the  feud  of  rich  and  poor, 
Ring  in  redress  to  all  mankind. 

Ring  out  a  slowly  dying  cause, 
And  ancient  forms  of  party-strife; 
Ring  in  the  nobler  modes  of  life, 
With  sweeter  manners,  purer  laws. 

Ring  out  the  want,  the  care,  the  sin, 
The  faithless  coldness  of  the  times ; 
Ring  out,  ring  out  my  mournful  rhymes, 
But  ring  the  fuller  minstrel  in. 

Ring  out  old  shapes  of  foul  disease; 
Ring  out  the  narrowing  lust  of  gold; 
Ring  out  the  thousand  wars  of  old, 
Ring  in  the  thousand  years  of  peace. 

Ring  in  the  valiant  man  and  free. 
The  larger  heart,  the  kindlier  hand; 
Ring  out  the  darkness  of  the  land. 
Ring  in  the  'Christ  that  is  to  be'. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 

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